{"id":2228,"date":"2012-11-03T01:24:48","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T06:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=2228"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:31:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:31:20","slug":"bookbinder-of-the-month-edgar-mansfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/03\/bookbinder-of-the-month-edgar-mansfield\/","title":{"rendered":"November \/\/ Bookbinder of the Month: Edgar Mansfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Edgar Mansfield was born in London in 1907. Four years later his parents took him to New Zealand where he spent the next 23 years of his life before returning to England.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starting in 1948, Mansfield began teaching at the London School of Printing, where in regards to bookbinding was a advocate for expressive design inspired by the spirit of the book as opposed to decorative pattern making. Mansfield developed as a binder outside of traditional training, his approach was first as an artist and then a craftsman. However, his execution was impeccable; he excelled in inlays and onlays, shaped his own finishing tools, and developed a technique to heighten the texture of leather during cover. Fellow binder Trevor Jones wrote the following after Mansfield’s death in 1996:<\/p>\n

The nature of the surface of a Mansfield binding and its tactile quality is most important, as befits the work of a sculptor. His preference was always for unpolished and unpressed goatskin enlivened with surface markings and blemishes, especially the native tanned and dyed skins once obtainable from Nigeria that displayed variations of tone and colour, if necessary with his own added ink markings. He often heightened the grain texture on the leather of his bindings by rolling the damp skin on itself before pasting, and later brushing towards the spine with the palm of his hand across the surface of the leather in the act of covering the book….<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Mansfield was no doubt inspired by the fine artists of his time, there are hints of Mir\u00f3, Klee and Picasso within the energetic lines, jagged shapes and simplistic shapes and color palettes of his designs. This edition of\u00a0The Devil and All<\/em> by John Collier was printed in 1934 by Nonesuch Press and was bound by Mansfield in 1961. Covered in a chrome yellow morocco with inlays of black, grey, white and bright red; tooled in blind, black and a single red line (can you find it?). This binding is owned by the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, check out their Flickr page<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mansfield retired in 1964, but continued binding sporadically until 1976. His failing vision directed his creative desire towards sculpture and drawing when binding became impossible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reference:\u00a0The Work of Edgar Mansfield: Technical Notes by Edgar Mansfield<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edgar Mansfield was born in London in 1907. Four years later his parents took him to New Zealand where he spent the next 23 years of his life before returning to England.\u00a0 Starting in 1948, Mansfield began teaching at the London School of Printing, where in regards to bookbinding was a advocate for expressive design […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,68],"tags":[1867,378,380,381],"class_list":["post-2228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-binder-of-the-month","category-bookbinding","tag-bookbinding","tag-edgar-mansfield","tag-john-collier","tag-the-devil-and-all"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-zW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2562,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/18\/bookbinder-of-the-month-edgar-mansfield-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":2228,"position":0},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Edgar Mansfield","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"November 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an earlier binding from Edgar Mansfield, before he really developed his expressionist style.\u00a0Room and Book by Paul Nash was published by Soncino Press in 1932 and was bound by Mansfield in 1941. Covered in yellow ochre and red brown morocco with inlays in natural, red, browns and black.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/roomandbook_edgarmansfield-684x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2426,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/11\/bookbinder-of-the-month-edgar-mansfield-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":2228,"position":1},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Edgar Mansfield","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I wish this image were in color, it's a really striking design; the marks are almost sketch-like appearing at random to build a dimensional landscape.\u00a0Thirstland Treks by Carel Birkby was printed by Faber and Faber in 1936 and this copy was bound by Edgar Mansfield in 1948. Covered in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/thirstlandtreks_edgarmansfield.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/thirstlandtreks_edgarmansfield.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/thirstlandtreks_edgarmansfield.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/thirstlandtreks_edgarmansfield.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2666,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/25\/bookbinder-of-the-month-edgar-mansfield-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":2228,"position":2},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Edgar Mansfield","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"November 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Moby Dick by Herman Melville is the classic novel possessing the iconic white sperm whale, whose image graces the cover of this binding by Edgar Mansfield. Following the design of Baudelaire's\u00a0Les Fleurs du Mal (1952) and\u00a0A Rage to Live by John O'Hara (1952), Mansfield created this design for\u00a0Moby Dick in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ragetolive_edgarmansfield.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ragetolive_edgarmansfield.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ragetolive_edgarmansfield.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2310,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/04\/bookbinder-of-the-month-edgar-mansfield-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2228,"position":3},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Edgar Mansfield","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"November 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Throughout Edgar Mansfield's career as a bookbinder, he bound several copies of Victor Gollancz's Through the Woods.\u00a0Twelve of them are represented in\u00a0The Work of Edgar Mansfield.\u00a0The binding in the first image was bound in 1958; covered in a native tanned natural morocco with brown markings (both natural and added by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/throughthewoods1958_mansfield-881x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4010,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/10\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2228,"position":4},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Hannah Brown","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This edition of Daphne Du Maurier's\u00a0Don't Look Now and Other Stories was published by the Folio Society in 2007 and bound by Hannah Brown in 2008 for the Designer Bookbinders Annual Competition, receiving the Mansfield Medal for Best Book. Bound in a dark grey goatskin with miscellaneous leather bird onlays\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/dontlooknow_hannahbrown3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/dontlooknow_hannahbrown3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/dontlooknow_hannahbrown3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2913,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/bookbinder-of-the-month-jan-sobota\/","url_meta":{"origin":2228,"position":5},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Jan Sobota","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"December 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Jan Sobota produced several miniature bindings, which were included in various exhibitions. This binding of Edgar Allen Poe's\u00a0The Black Cat was published in a small edition of 20 by Jan and Jarmilla in 2009. This book-object was designed as a 'Jack-in-the-Box', the book is permanently attached to a spring that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/edgarallenpoe2_jansobota.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2228"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14690,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228\/revisions\/14690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}