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Day Link IconFriday, July 2, 2010

Exceeded Expectations
 
Again you've exceeded my expectations with the rebinding of the LEC Tristram Shandy. The royal purple Nigerian goatskin and boards covered in the compatible marbled paper set off this magnificent copy of the famous 18th century Rabelaisian-like novel by Laurence Sterne. I first read this novel in the 1960s in a very mundane copy  I purchased from The Folio Society. I have always wanted a finely bound copy of Tristram; but the one published by the LEC in 1935 always left a little to be desired, and it was never a very popular LEC. Now it is a copy fit for a king in its Royal purple binding. If George III had read this book, and in its present binding, he may have been in a better mood; consequently, he might have been kinder to his colones, making us all Englishmen today instead of celebrating our Indepence come Sunday.
 
I do not mean to denigrate George Macy's book. The typography, text layout, illustrations, and printing were and are first class. But in 1935, Macy did not have access to the material for binding that are available now.
 
It has always been a dream of mine to rebind the fabulous books published  by George Macy in the 30s and 40s. The LECs published in these years are some of the finest books ever produced by an American publisher. The Limited Editions Club books publshed today, at $5,000 each, are books-under-glass and do not meet the objectives of Macy. Using fine artists, the LEC publishes very expensive tomes, but they do not have the feel of Macy's work because they are not illustrated by book illustrators. So somehow they lack the empathy between text and illustration that the older LEC books have.
 
Tell your crew they have again delivered a sumptuous feast for the eyes and touch. I can hardly wait to reread this princely book.
 
Next on the agenda: Aesop's Fables designed by that great bookman and typogrpher, Bruce Rogers. More about this in a few days.
 
Best,
Don

Posted @ 7:16 AM
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Day Link IconThursday, May 13, 2010

 

Holy Bible

The staff of Harcourt Bindery recently completed rebinding the 5 volume set of The Holy Bible published by Nonesuch Press. These wonderfully printed books have been rebound in full brown morocco in a style popular in the 18th century in tribute to the design of the text. The gold work is done by hand on these quarto-sized volumes.

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Posted @ 2:52 PM
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Day Link IconSunday, April 18, 2010

Mother Goose

Everyone on the staff at the Harcourt Bindery was involved with producing this binding on L. Frank Baum's Mother Goose in Prose. Our client brought a book to us missing the spine, with damaged covers. We were able to make a new binding using onlaid pieces of multi-colored leathers to replicate the graphic design on the original cover. The original cloth covers were incorporated into the front and back covers of the slipcase which houses the new binding. We were able to replicate the original block gold titling from images of another book.

These onlaid bindings were popular in the 1920s, especially in England. They require special skills and are complicated technically to produce. However, the result is stunning and we are proud of the abilities of our staff.

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Posted @ 11:33 PM
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Last update: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:25:37 GMT.

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