This episode of our Bookish Talk is a bit unusual because we have a guest. Rachel Ward-Sale is an award-winning bookbinder with many years of experience and the current president of the Designer Bookbinders.
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.
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.
Bookbinding involves a lot of precision craftsmanship. Making a lasting object that can open and close out of paper, leather, cord, and an adhesive isn't a simple task. The nitty-gritty of book mechanics is a lifetime of study and practice.
