Glenn Malkin has been awarded a coveted prize in the 2009 Designer Bookbinders competition.His binding of the competition's set book, Le Grand Meaulnes, is a full lacunose design in mixed goatskin leather with onlays and blind tooling. Inside, there are full leather doublures and suede endpapers. Headbands are hand sewn in silk and the book block is decorated at the edges in acrylics. The book is presented in a custom-made drop-back box with suede lining.The competition is held annually by the Designer Bookbinders society, which noted in its citation, "This book design represents the physical and emotional journey made by...
How To Read An Expensive Rare Book (A Cautionary Tale)
One word: Carefully.No, two words: Very carefully.Upon receipt of the three-hundred year old rare book you just paid $22,000 for (but haven't yet sent the check), inspect it with delicacy. Examine the hinges (inner joints) by gently - and only partially - opening the upper board and then the lower board. Please do not wildly open the book as if it’s the Yellow Pages and you’re frantic to find a plumber.Hinges and joints firm, as advertised by the dealer, with only three small distressed spots along the upper hinge? Excellent!Now, what better way to celebrate your new acquisition than by...
Designer Bookbinders International Bookbinding Competition Winners for 2009
Designer Bookbinders has announced the winners of its International Bookbinding Competition 2009.Binders from around the world were invited to enter the event, which was organized in conjunction with the Bodleian Library. An exhibition of selected competition entries is being shown alongside the Bodleian’s own exhibition An Artful Craft - Fine and Historic Bookbindings from the Broxbourne Library and Other Collections.Designer Bookbinders International Bookbinding Competition 2009 featured two prizes awarded in honor of Sir Paul Getty KBE (1932-2003). Sir Paul Getty was one of the greatest book collectors of his era and was a passionate advocate for the art and craft...
The Great Omar: The Zenith of Bookbinding Art
In 1912, bookbinder Francis Sangorski decided to produce the most elaborate binding of all time, a jeweled edition of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám with illustrations by Elihu Vedder. The magnificent binding was a masterwork and contained almost 1,200 jewels. But the book and its binder were doomed.The Harry Ransom Center recently held a stunning exhibition based upon the book and this masterpiece of bookbinding art, The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West.The Ransom Center has also produced a video telling the tragic story of what happened to the greatest binding ever created: