Some recent work at the Harcourt Bindery

This sprinkled calf binding was created by the craftsmen at The Harcourt Bindery on a copy of Wagstaffe’s Works, 1726.  The decoration of this small octavo book is an almost exact copy of what was left of the original, damaged binding.  The raised cords, overlapping double-lined borders on the covers, and the sprinkling patterns are reminiscent of the then-popular Cambridge style bindings, and the final touch was the use of hand-made endleaves from the Griffen Mill which are copies of 18^th century papers.

The craftsmen at The Harcourt Bindery just completed rebinding four volumes of a 19^th century set of Dickens’ Works.  These were done to match the original bindings, a few of which were heavily damaged.  With Harcourt’s extensive collection of finishing tools and marbled papers, the new bindings (which will be toned later) are almost identical to the original designs and materials.