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‘bookbinding’ Category

  1. Bookbinder of the Month: Annette Friedrich

    August 25, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

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    As Annette Friedrich continues with her ongoing Virginia Woolf series, in 2012 she bound Woolf’s third novel Jacob’s Room. This 1920’s Hogarth Press edition of Jacob’s Room was bound in full leather green goatskin. The decorative tooling on the front and back covers are done in three shades of silver, white and grey, which offer wonderful subtleties to the design. The title is tooled in matte silver along the length of the spine with the author’s name tooled in silver at the tail.

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    jacobsroom5-annettefriedrichThe interior of the covers is lined with paper bord-a-bord doublures in silver rose and the fly leaves are in silver. All papers used are hand dyed. The binding is housed in a silver and green chemise with linear tooling across the sides in three shades of silver. The interior of the chemise is lined with a shockingly, vibrant pink. The spine of the chemise is tooled to mimic the spine of the binding.

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    Annette has recently added Mrs. Dalloway to her website, the fourth book in the ‘on a stroll with Mrs. Woolf’ series. It was quite a wonderful surprise to see as I’ve been frequenting her site this month. The design is similar to Jacob’s Room, with the random tooling appearing more dense and chaotic. I look forward to seeing the last five of the series! Keep up the inspiring work, Annette!mrsdalloway-annettefriedrich

  2. Book Artist of the Month: Jody Alexander

    August 19, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

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    Jody Alexander found inspiration in Truman Capote’s character Miss Sook Faulk, who is directly based off of his cousin Nanny Rumbley Faulk, whom he called ‘Sook’. Miss Sook’s Dropsy Cure Drawer Remained Unbeknownst to Most is a ‘boxed book’ piece created from 2006 to 2009. 

    A found wooden sewing machine base is perfectly stuffed with handbound exposed spine books in addition to other found objects. The smaller compartment houses a single hand-sewn book made from handmade kozo/gampi paper; pack sewing over cords. The cords continue onto the covers, creating a raised mirrored design.

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  3. Bookbinder of the Month: Annette Friedrich

    August 18, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

    nightandday-annettefriedrichNight and Day is Virginia Woolf’s second novel and the second book Annette Friedrich has bound for her series ‘on a stroll with Mrs. Woolf’.

    In 2011, Annette bound this 1920 George H. Doran Company edition in full yellow goatskin. The design on the covers is tooled with platinum leaf, rose, pink and three shades of green. The spine includes the title and author tooled in platinum in addition to crosses in pink and silver. So far, this binding is my most favorite from the Virginia Woolf series. I love the whirling platinum curves and the scattered bits of color throughout the cover.

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    The book is housed in a green chemise with matching yellow goatskin. A silver paper cross inlay appears on the chemise, this paper matches the endpapers. The slipcase is covered in rose paper. All papers used are hand-dyed. nightandday3-annettefriedrich

  4. Book Artist of the Month: Jody Alexander

    August 12, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

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    The Pharmacist’s Daughter is a ‘boxed book’ piece by Jody Alexander created in 2005 based on the character of the same name. The Pharmacist’s daughter used thread and stitching to heal, mimicking the actions of her father. The viewer is asked to fill in the rest of the story. Housed within the wooden box are glass bottles filled with various colored threads. The book is pack-sewn over cords; the cords have been used to create the raised design on both covers. The book is bound with gampi/kozo paper.

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  5. Bookbinder of the Month: Annette Friedrich

    August 11, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

    voyageout5-annettefriedrichIn 2011, Annette Friedrich embarked on her goal of binding all nine of Virginia Woolf’s novel starting with her first book, The Voyage Out. Annette bound a 1929 Hogarth Press edition (first imprint of the unified edition) in full orange goatskin. Tooling on the covers is done with platinum leaf and four shades of yellow. The author’s name and title are tooled on the spine in platinum, in addition to two horizontal lines at the head and tail in platinum and purple.

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    The book is housed in a chemise covered with hand-dyed green paper and matching orange goatskin. The slipcase is covered in a hand-dyed blue paper. voyageout6-annettefriedrich

  6. Client Work // Single Section Half Leather Binding

    August 6, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

    STORY ABOUT THE TEXT: An article titled The Roxbury Defenders Committee: Reflections on the Early Years by the Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland was recently published in Volume 95, No. 1 of the Massachusetts Law Review. The article speaks about the establishment of the Roxbury Defenders, a committee founded in 1971 to provide legal referrals to those who suffered financially in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The committee was founded by Ireland and his colleague and friend, Professor Wallace W. Sherwood. 

    ABOUT THE BINDING: For my client, I bound two copies of the Massachusetts Law Review journal, one for the Chief Justice and one for Professor Sherwood. The journals came to me straight from the press and bound together with staples. The staples were removed and bound as a single section bradel binding. This structure has been described in a previous Client Work post you can check out here and here.

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    Since the journal is printed in black ink only, I chose materials that reflected the gorgeous and vibrant image on the cover. The journals are bound a half leather binding, where the same covering material for the spine is used to cover the corners. I chose to bind the journals in a blue-gray buffalo skin against a taupe Iris bookcloth. For the endpapers I chose a beautiful handmade Cockerell marbled paper from Cambridge, England, in addition to a folio of marbled grey Bugra and off-white Hahnmühle Ingres.

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    Setting up my bench in preparation for covering the corners with blue-gray buffalo skin.

    To finish off the bindings, the title and volume of the journal were hand tooled along the spine with Centaur handle letters. The title was gilt with gold leaf.  

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  7. Book Artist of the Month: Jody Alexander

    August 5, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

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    If She Thought It Would Help, Zelda Would Use Her Antediluvian Curse Cache to Attain Her Revenge is the title for a ‘boxed book’ project that Jody Alexander created in 2004. The wooden box is packed with books on the left and found objects in compartments on the right. The exposed spines of the books display a variety of sewing structures including packed sewing over split thongs, Coptic, longstitch, ticketed, French stitch and sewing over cords. 

    Jody expresses that the title says enough for the viewer to fill in the rest in regards to the concept of the piece. So please, make your own conclusions. 

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  8. Bookbinder of the Month: Annette Friedrich

    August 4, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

    ovidselegies-annettefriedrichIn 2010, Annette Friedrich bound Ovid’s Elegies and Epigrams of Sir John Davies by Ovid and Sir John Davies with woodcut illustrations by John Nash. This is one of my favorite bindings of Annette’s due to the rich, vibrant colors and the contrast between the smooth tooled lines and the textural grain of the leather.

    Bound as a full leather binding in yellow levent goatskin. Tooling on the covers is done in three shades of grey and silver. The spine is divided into three segments by crosses tooled in pink; the title is centered in between the crosses in silver. Matching leather joints and endpapers are light blue. The fine binding is housed by a chemise and slipcase covered in the same yellow goatskin and blue-grey and purple hand-dyed papers. 

    This binding is held in a private collection in Southall, United Kingdom.

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    In addition, Annette sent along this image of herself tooling the spine of Ovid’s Elegies during the sweltering heat. 

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  9. August // Book Artist of the Month: Jody Alexander

    August 2, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

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    Sedimentals is an altered book project that Jody Alexander completed between 2011 and 2012. This collection of art objects include found furniture stuffed with layers of discarded books and fabric. These layers appear like a cross section of sediment revealing treasures between the layers. 

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    While reading the interview, you will begin to understand the depth of Jody’s commitment to her materials and characters. This exclusive connection is the cause for such a well-rounded body of work. Her dedication to teaching is just as exceptional, offering her skills to several venues both online and in person. Read the interview after the jump and come back each Monday during the month of August for more posts on Jody Alexander.

    read more >

  10. Client Work: Single Section Full Leather Binding // Part Two

    August 1, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

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    If you missed Part One of this post, you can check it out here.

    After cautiously and carefully paring a rather large piece of goatskin, I was ready to cover. Being that it’s summertime and rather warm in our bindery, I was faced with the challenge of a thirsty piece of leather and quick-drying paste. After wrestling with the leather, particularly the headcaps and corners, the book was successfully covered and put to rest overnight. 

    The design on the cover is quite simplistic, an inspiration from the first musical score titled Three Nyatitis. A nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked lyre from Kenya. The eight lines are spaced wider at the head of the cover then at the tail, where they end to form a partial circular shape. This negative space represents the sound hole of the instrument. The lines have been blind tooled into the leather.  

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    The title for each composition has been gold tooled along the visible spine of the leather on either side of the blind-tooled lines. Each title has been hand-tooled with 16 point Centaur handle letters.

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    An interior shot showcasing the beautifully handmade paste papers from Deena Schnitman.

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  • My name is Erin Fletcher, owner and bookbinder of Herringbone Bindery in Boston. Flash of the Hand is a space where I share my process and inspirations.
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