William Morris - 'nuff said

Its not often that you will get to see a Kelmscott edition, and when you come across one you are sure to remember, no doubt through a mystic haze. I'm sure every binder has a story or two detailing their discovery of a Kelmscott edition, me included.
So I was happy when a dealer and friend brought in Morris' edition of Beowulf.
Immediately recognisable are the decorative initials and marginalia, the intertwinning floral designs printed from woodblocks. The lettering is a characteristic medieval gothic, and the paper a rich white and well preserved.
The binding is not up to much really, cant see the benefit of pasting down ends onto a limp vellum cover, as you can see.
I remembering studying Beowulf at the beginning of a very short lived career as a student of English in North Wales....couldn't handle the anglo-saxon, but then, what did I know....

William Morris...'nuff said......

The bonefolder 2012 R.I.P

It was with mixed feelings that Peter Verheyen informed me that while a recent article I had written on my work was included in the latest "bonefolder" online magazine, it would actually be the last issue.
There are some 14 issues, covering many aspects of bookbinding, and with many how-to demos from notable book artists like Tim Ely.
I am downloading each issue and will be rebinding them for inclusion in the PDB reference library.
Who knows what will come next to take it's place.

The last issue includes an article written by yours truly "A Bookbinder's Gamble", chronicling the last 6 years of "The Box Challenge", aswell as some other great articles.

get it here