Spooky Bookish Things for Halloween
This is the spookiest time of the year, and we have some scary bookish things to share with you! Well, some of them are more fun than spooky, but that's probably the main idea of all this pandemonium.
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The First Book I Bound, My First Press, and Some Mistakes I Made
So, here is the first book I ever bound. While the top photo is quite dramatic, check the other images to see some mistakes I made. The spine is stitched because I recycled the leather from a jacket and wanted to cover the old holes.
Newspapers Used in Cover Design? Sometimes It Is Quite Fitting
This album is a collection of newspaper cutouts with cartoons by the Dutch artist Jo Spier. From 1924 to 1939, he worked in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and authored a plethora of illustrations about everyday life.
An Answer to a Dreaded Question. “Just Do a Workshop” — Is It Really That Simple?
I have been asked to "Just do a workshop" ... "locally, so it need not be a special thing" ... oh yes... and that four-letter word beginning with F or f that professionals dread... "for free"! After all, "it's just bits of paper, isn't it?"
Colorful Blue-Green Paste Paper from an Early 20th-Century Binding
These are paste papers from an early 20th-century edition of the German translation of Le déserteur, an opéra comique by the French composer Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny. Book from the collection of Leon Laserson.
Were You Ever Curious Who has Drawn a Doodle in Your Book?
The drawing is inspired by a doodle found in a 19th-century book about Napoleon. I found that volume on a flea market in Amsterdam. Sometimes the most interesting finds do not need any major investment!
Workshop Tour of Introligatornia Tylkowski — Bookbinding Studio of Jacek Tylkowski
Everyone loves a good old workshop tour. It's always interesting to get a sneak peek of how your colleague organized things and how they do the work. So today, we have a chance to visit Introligatornia Tylkowski.
Our Gentle Boy Onfim – Birch Bark Doodles of a Medieval Russian Kid
Part of an extensive collection of manuscripts, unearthed in the Russian city of Novgorod more than five years ago, these childish writings were produced by an old practice of writing on birch bark.
Sometimes Somewhat Naive Covers are the Best
This cover decoration is just an ink drawing on a canvas material of the cover that wasn't even properly fixed on the cardboard. Add not-really-straight lettering, voila! Metamorphoses by Publius Ovidius Naso. German edition, from 1897.
Boekkunstbeurs is in Three Weeks — Art of Book Fair in Leiden, Netherlands
It's only three weeks left until Boekkunstbeurs, a fair organized by the bookbinders' and printers' guilds of the Netherlands. It means there's not much time to prepare, but enough time to plan a trip and buy a plane ticket!
Bookish Street Switch Box in Leiden, Netherlands
Just a street switch box at a bus stop near our home in Leiden. You can find it right here: https://goo.gl/maps/ZAuiJza36ap8UXMi7
Color-Sorted and Color-Coded Libraries
There a distinctive difference between color-sorted and color-coded libraries. However, the second may be a subset of the first. But in any case, we'd like to talk about libraries sorted by the colors of their books' covers today.
iBookBinding Starts Sales of a New Item: Plexiglas Book Cradle
We are glad to offer you a new category of items in our shop: Plexiglas/Acrylic book cradles. At the current moment, we have already added two versions of the cradle in two different sizes, but soon there will be more of them!
Before the Eagle had Landed
Old books are genuinely fascinating. Although their content might have become obsolete, they still possess historical value. Reading them can teach us a lot about the beliefs and ideas humankind once held. But not only that.
Mr. Marcel Proust and His Turquoise Marbled Papers
These two volumes were standing out among other tomes at the book market in the Hague. But what most impressed me wasn't visible while the volumes were tucked between other books. Just check the marbled paper!
