Herringbone Bindery
Erin Fletcher : Fine Binding & Edition Binding
Cover of Helen Fragments on a white table. Front cover of Helen Fragments on a white table. Close-up of front cover of Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Close-up of front cover of Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Close-up of back cover of Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Close-up of back cover of Helen Fragments binding on a white table.. Close-up of spine on Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Close-up of spine on Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Detail of edge on Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Interior of Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Detail of interior of Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Interior of Helen Fragments binding on a white table. Detail of painted hinge on Helen Fragments binding on a white table.
Helen Fragments: from books three & six of Homer’s Iliad – translated by Richard Seibert
With drawings by Winifred McNeill
Editions Koch, Berkeley, 2003



French-style fine binding with laced-in boards. Bound in periwinkle goatskin with back-pared onlays in terra cotta and blackberry goatskin and handmade papers in peach and pale peach. Onlays are embellished with embroidery. Details hand-painted on periwinkle leather. Leather wrapped endbands in raspberry goatskin with bands of light pink threads. Sewn on purple case paper stubs. Edge-to-edge doublures in blackberry goatskin with handmade paper onlays. Matching leather hinges. Screen-printed fly leaves with peach and pale pink handmade paper endpapers.

Completed 2024



Exhibition History
  • American Academy of Bookbinding Open|Set Exhibition - Awarded Highly Commendable: Design (2025)
    • American Bookbinders Museum, San Francisco, CA
    Denver University Libraries, Anderson Academic Commons, Denver, CO




Artist Statement
Women who weave are often depicted as spiders. This symbolizes the power to create and to protect. At a pivotal moment in the story, Helen is found at her loom, weaving a cloak to document the impending war as the men in her life fight for the right to possess her. Menelaus, her husband is represented as a bull in continuous battle with Paris, her lover who is represented as a panther. Inspired by the classic Grecian borders in the illustrations, the design is meant to mimic the aesthetic at the time the Iliad was written in the 8th century.