My biblionautic chums and friends.
Finished...... Alphabetum Romanum The Letterforms of Felice Feliciano. .... Just the box to make.
A smallish book beautifully printed by the Greenboathouse Press.
A flat back bound with Palimpsest Parchment. Leather jointed end papers to edge to edge paper doublers. Applied leather end bands. The choice for a flat back was dictated by a number of aspects when I first appraised the text block. The sewing holes where already pricked, the paper is heavy with many folios persection.. this resulted in thick sections and last, but not least... yes the big one...grain direction... which is, as one could say...against the grain.
It is so important to be able to understand what one is working with. What can and perhaps more importantly, what cannot be done. I always encourage experimentation to find out what is the can and cannot.
All to often many binders go in to default mode when making a designed or contemporary binding, full leather, to throw everything at it. Inlays, onlays, lots of bling and that sort of thing. And because it is leather they say it is a fine binding. Trust me, I have seen many full leather bindings with the bling that I would not, in any way, call a 'Fine' binding. I consider that what makes a fine binding, as in many things, is the finesse of the final work, be it in leather, cloth, paper etc.
The design for the binding of Alphabetum Romanum and the colours are inspired by the text ... as is usually the case. Truncated letter forms echo the cropped large Q in the forward, as per the instructions from the printer. And who am I to argue with the person who designed and printed the text block?.
Sometimes simplicity is the important thing.
Please further note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.
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