The Emergence of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Glenview, IL: Karen Hanmer Book Arts, 2022.
Full goatskin binding with laced-in boards. Marbled flexi-endsheets with leather hinge, hand sewn, three-color silk headbands. Décor of backpared onlays, inlaid lines and pochoir. Machine-stamped label.
8.75 x 6 x 1.25”
22 x 15 x 3 cm
The Emergence of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of eleven short stories marking the canon’s final year of copyright protection in the United States. The book’s twelve illustrations include a frontispiece by Sidney Paget. Text formatted by the binder from public domain sources and laser printed onto 70 lb text weight paper.
This text block was created for students to bind in a Leather Binding 3: Fine Binding workshop, and this copy was the instructor’s demo book, using decorative techniques selected to require minimal specialized tools.
Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land by John Graves, Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
This binding was awarded the 2009 Helen Warren DeGolyer Award for Excellence in Fine Binding.
Full goatskin fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards, covered using Paul Delrue’s Lacunose technique. Goatskin onlay and inlaid lines. Additional lines incised freehand with Ascona tool. Leather joint, suede flyleaves, green textured machine-made Japanese paper doublures. Hand sewn silk headbands, gilt top edge. Title gold stamped. Bound 2009.
8.5 x 6 x 1.5"
Memoir of author’s experiences on his Texas farm, the history of the area, and his efforts to rehabilitate the depleted land. Design inspired by topographic maps, satellite photos and author’s sketch of the farm.
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1991. Signed first edition.
Fine binding sewn on flattened cords, laced into boards and covered in a variety of hues of green goatskin. Hand-titling and tooling in 23 kt gold, black and brown foils. Edge-to-edge goatskin doublures, flyleaves of green Cave paper. Hand-sewn, French style endbands, watercolor top edge in a variety of greens. Bound 2012.
9.25 x 6.5 x 1.5”
23 x 16 x 3 cm
Abstracted aerial and cross-section views of cultivated land adorn this retelling of King Lear on an Iowa farm.
Father Louie: Photographs of Thomas Merton. Photographs by Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Timken Publishers, 1991
Full leather “Simplified Binding” structure, leather endbands, Hewit goatskin dyed various shades of gray with Hewit aniline dyes, graphite edges. Title stamped in carbon on spine. Bound 2007.
10 x 10 x .5”
The light to dark progression references the spiritual journey, conversion experience and the upward orientation of many of the images in this book of black and white photographs of Kentucky writer and monk Thomas Merton by Kentucky photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard. The horizontal bars represent the structure of monastic life, and their undulation represents both the motion ubiquitous in Meatyard’s work and the rolling Kentucky landscape. The seven bars reference the title of Merton’s first and best known published work, The Seven Storey Mountain.
Created for the 2007 Voices and Visions: Art Inspired by Kentucky Poetry, Prose and Songwriting exhibition at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY.
The Life of Gen. Francis Marion, a Celebrated Partisan Officer in the Revolutionary War Against the British and Tories in South Carolina and Georgia by Brig. Gen. P. Horry and M.L. Weems. Philadelphia: Joseph Allen, 1856.
Full goatskin binding with backpared onlays, tooling and hand-titling in blind, three-color hand-sewn endbands and three edges sprinkled in three colors of acrylic. Marbled endpapers by Pamela Smith. Bound 2016.
7.5 x 4.5 x 1”
This binding was created for an exhibit in Charleston, SC. As a Midwesterner unfamiliar with the area, I inquired about local icons and incorporated several: an antiquarian text block on the local Revolutionary War hero “The Swamp Fox” decorated with South Carolina’s palmetto motif, on a background of the once ubiquitous “Charleston green.”
The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979. first edition
Full goatskin fine binding with laced-in boards. Edge-to-edge goatskin doublures, suede flyleaves. Goatskin backpared and cushioned onlays, some laser-printed; some areas sprinkled with gold leaf. Graphite and gold-sprinkled edges, hand sewn silk headbands. Bound 2011.
8.5 x 5.5 x 1.75"
Design inspired by Wolfe’s notion of single combat warriors battling the Cold War in the heavens on behalf of the US and USSR. Further inspiration from space-themed advertising of the era. Various patriotic and space race icons from the US and USSR portrayed as constellations, planets and spacecraft.
Bookbinding with Numerous Engravings and Diagrams
Edited by Paul N. Hasluck, Grove, Wantage, England: The Black Swan Press, 1992, reprint of 1902 first edition.
On exhibit at the New Bedford Whaling Museum October 16, 2026 - February 15, 2027.
Full goatskin binding with laced-in boards. Trade book disbound, guarded and resewn on flattened cords, leather hinge, marbled paper by Pamela Smith. Hand sewn, silk headbands; three edges sprinkled with blue acrylic ink. Blind title and tooling, acrylic pochoir. Illustrations scanned from the text and laser printed onto goatskin onlays. Illustrations scanned from the text and inkjet printed onto Mohawk Superfine cover, then hand cut into pop-ups, are sewn inside each of the text block’s ten signatures. Bound 2014.
8.5 x 5.5 x 2”
The design for this binding is inspired by the text’s charming vintage illustrations, many of which feature disembodied hands performing common binding tasks. Tooling and pochoir further illuminate aspects of structure and process: beating the text block prior to sewing, sawing in sewing stations, lacing on boards, turning in and forming corners, tooling, and the figure-eight motion of the polishing iron.
Frida by Frida A selection of letters and texts by Frida Kahlo, forward and notes by Raquel Tibol. Mexico City: Editorial RM, 2006.
Full leather fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards, covered in full goatskin. Blue backpared goatskin onlays, fuscia buffalo onlays, hand tooling and titling in gold. Goatskin edge-to-edge doublure, Khadi paper flyleaves. Hand sewn silk headbands, gilt top edge. Dust jacket bound in rear. Bound 2013.
8.5 x 6 x 1.25"
Design inspired by Frida Kahlo’s garments, both traditional Mexican skirts and huipils, and her orthopedic corsets; on a background referencing papel picado, Mexican cut paper banners. Colors reference Kahlo’s family residence, The Blue House, and the colorful palette she favored for both her paintings and her dress.
The Voyage of the “Fox” in the Arctic Seas. A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions by Captain M’Clintock, R.N., LL.D. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1860 (author’s edition).
Full goatskin fine binding: text disbound, outer folios guarded and resewn on flattened cords laced into boards. Buffalo and calf vellum inlays, and back-pared and traditional onlays. Blind tooling and title. Hand-sewn, French-style silk endbands, graphite head. Cloth from original, damaged case bound in at front and rear. Ruscombe Mill handmade paper endsheets. Impression of onlays on edge-to-edge goatskin doublures offsets onto suede flyleaves. Public domain images of historic shipwrecks inkjet printed, then laminated behind vellum. Bound 2014.
7.75 x 5.24 x 1.5”
Sir John Franklin’s 1845 expedition was one of many to search for the elusive Northwest Passage, a sea route through the Arctic connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Franklin’s two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, became trapped in sea ice and were abandoned in 1848. None of the 129 man crew survived, and the ships were believed to be lost. The Voyage of the “Fox” in the Arctic Seas. A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions is an account of one of numerous expeditions to search for Franklin’s ships and crew. The design for this binding was inspired by historic and contemporary photographs, paintings and illustrations of sea ice and Arctic exploration. The latest expedition to search for Franklin’s ships began in August 2014, concurrently with work on this binding. The well-preserved wreckage of HMS Erebus was found on September 7, 2014.
La couleur du vent, Poems by Gilles Vigneault, illustrations by Nastassja Imiolek under the artistic direction of Cécile Côté. Montreal: Les éditions de l'atelier de reliure Cécile Côté, 2011.
Full goatskin fine binding sewn on flattened cords, laced into boards, backpared onlay. Hand-titling and tooling in 23 kt gold, red and black foils. Doublures and flyleaves of Cave paper. Hand-sewn, French style endbands, three edges gilt over deckles. Bound 2013.
10.25 x 6.75 x .75”
Design references repeated motifs from the illustrations of this set book for a 2013 exhibition organized by Les Amis de la Reliure d'Art du Canada
Old Quebec: The Fortress of New France by Gilbert Parker and Claude G. Bryan, New York: Macmillan, 1903.
French technique fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards, covered in full goatskin. Onlays of dyed goatskin, some using Paul Delrue’s Lacunose technique. Sunken Suede doublures, marbled paper flyleaves. Hand sewn silk headbands, gauffered graphite edges. Bound 2007.
10x7.5x1.5”
Design references Cap Diamont, the St. Lawrence River and the gates and walls of Old Quebec.
San Antonio Rose: The Life and Music of Bob Wills by Charles R. Townsend, University of Illinois Press, 1976
Full leather fine binding: sewn on tapes, covered in full goatskin. Backpared and traditional onlays. Onlays on edge-to-edge doublures leave impression on suede flyleaves. Cold tooling of details on onlays. Hand sewn silk headbands. Acrylic sprinkled edges. Calligraphy for text onlay by Joanne Kluba. Book inscribed by the author. Bound 2007.
10x7.5x1.5”
Design presents iconic images from the career of Bob Wills, band leader, fiddler, radio and movie personality, and the originator of Western Swing music.
Books Will Speak Plain: A Handbook for Identifying and Describing Historical Bindings by Julia Miller, Ann Arbor, MI: The Legacy Press, 2010.
Collection of the University of Chicago
Goatskin fine binding sewn on flattened cords, hand sewn silk headbands, head edge sponged with acrylic inks and sprinkled with gold leaf. Marbled endpapers with leather hinge. Dust jacket bound in. Tooling in blind and 23 kt gold foil emphasizes location of sewing supports and lacing-on, turn-ins, fills, sanding of boards, and formation of corners. Bound 2013.
10.25 x 7.5 x 1.75”
26 x 19 x 4 cm
Cutaway models are an interesting engineering problem, and very useful for teaching. I’ve made cut-away or partially-finished models of most of the structures I use, and this binding was the next challenge in the progression. The tooling further illuminates aspects of structure and process.
The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. Easthampton, MA: Cheloniidae Press, 1984.
Full goatskin fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards and covered in Paul DelRue’s “Tudor style” of overlapping strips of leather. Tooling and titling in carbon and palladium leaf. Hand-sewn, French-style silk endbands, head rough gilt in white gold leaf. Black cave paper doublures and gray ultrasuede flyleaves. Bound 2014.
9.5 x 6.75 x 1"
In this classic Poe short story, the protagonist is plagued by both his wife and a black cat. The design of abstracted sound waves echoes the cat’s cries from behind a cellar wall that betrayed his murderous activities.
Lives of Saints, with excerpts from their writings. Introduction by Father Thomas Plassmann, O.F.M; editorial supervision by Father Joseph Vann, O.F.M. New York: John J.Crawley & Co, 1954.
Fine binding sewn on flattened cords, laced into boards and covered in a variety of hues of blue leather, mostly goatskin. Tooling and titling in carbon, and 23 kt gold and dark blue foils. Edge-to-edge goatskin doublures, flyleaves of navy blue paper with texture echoing the vertical wrapping of leather on the book’s exterior. Hand-sewn, French style endbands, watercolor top edge in a variety of blues. Bound 2012.
8.5 x 5.75 x 2.25”
Design incorporates numerous classic metaphors for spiritual growth: movement from darkness to light, from chaos to order, from rough to smooth, and from earthly to heavenly domains. Overall pattern of tooling is in the shape of a stylized dove.
The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin. San Francisco: The Arion Press, 2006, #308 of 426 copies
Full brown goatskin fine binding sewn on flattened cords. Hand-sewn, silk, French style endbands, top edge gilt. Hand-titling and tooling in blind. Doublures and flyleaves of Cave alphabet paper. Bound 2013.
10 x 6.75 x 1”
255 x 170 x 27 mm
World-renowned as a scientist, inventor, philosopher, publisher, statesman, diplomat, and founding father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin chose to identify himself as a printer. The text on the front board is the first line of Franklin’s last will and testament, arranged as if in a type case. Additional type is pictured distributed on the rear board.
The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain. Easthampton, MA: Cheloniidae Press, 1985.
Full goatskin fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards. Goatskin onlays and inlaid lines, some craquele with India ink. Tooling in gold and colored foils, title in blind. Hand-sewn, French-style silk endbands, head treated with watercolor in a variety of greens and browns. Impression of onlay on edge-to-edge doublure offsets onto suede flyleaf. Bound 2014.
8.5 x 6 x 1"
In Twain’s short story, a man who loves to bet is swindled by a stranger who immobilizes the gambler’s prize jumping-frog by filling it with shot.
The Poetical Vagaries of a Knight of the Folding-Stick, of Paste Castle. By a Member of the Order of the Blue String, Society of the Garrett, 1815. Sandlin’s Books, 1993.
Collection of the University of Chicago
French technique fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards, goatskin spine and corners, marbled paper sides, textures Japanese paper doublures and flyleaves, leather hinge. Hand sewn silk headbands, gauffered gilded top edge, gold foil tooling. Bound 2008.
12 ¼ x 7 ¾ x 5/8"
Collection of vintage poems about printing and binding titled as if type was “pied,” spilled and scattered across the boards.
Using History by Greta Pratt, Steidl, 2005
Full leather binding using Don Rash’s split board technique. Hand sewn silk endbands, graphite top edge gauphered with 50 stars. Checkerboard of red and fair leather inlays, some stamped with custom dies depicting icons from American history compiled by the binder. Illustrations for dies by Henry Maron. Leather hinge, red textured Japanese paper doublures and flyleaves. Bound 2009.
10.75 x 11 x .7
This book of humorous and provocative color photographs documents the use of American iconography in architecture and popular culture.
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, Easthampton, MA: Cheloniidae Press, 1985.
Collection of the University of Iowa
Full leather fine binding: Sewn on flattened cords laced into boards, covered in full goatskin using Paul Delrue’s “lacunose” technique of sanded leather collage. Calf onlays and hinges. Hand-sewn, French style silk endbands, graphite top edge. Blind-tooled title and decorative text. Black cave paper doublures and suede flyleaves. Bound 2014.
6.75 x 9.75 x 1”
Repeated blind stamping, and abstracted shouting onlay of “NEVERMORE” reinforces The Raven’s themes of dread, obsession and hopelessness.
Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities
by John M. Carrera, Chronicle Books, 2009, signed by the author
Collection of the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, University of Alberta
Tight back sewn on double raised cords, covered in calf. Leather hinge, Payhembury marbled paper flyleaves and pastedowns. Hand sewn, three color, silk headbands; three edges sprinkled with red acrylic ink. Blind tooling, title stamped in black foil. Illustrations scanned from Pictorial Webster’s wall cards inkjet printed, then hand cut into seventeen pop-ups sewn alternating with the text block’s signatures. Additional illustrations and text laser printed onto goat and calf onlays. Bound 2011.
7.5x6.2.5”
Text drawn from the Preface and Introduction describe the original impetus behind the illustrations and the author’s vision for them in this work. Because the dictionary was originally printed to optimize text, not image, Carrera’s work marks the first opportunity for viewers to truly see the illustrations. Pop-ups further bring the illustrations to life.
Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities by John M. Carrera, Quercus Press, 2006
Letterpress edition hand-printed by the author, one of only sixteen copies available unbound.
French technique full goatskin binding with laced-in boards. Sewn on flattened cords, false raised bands. Leather hinge, marbelized text paper for endsheets and doublures hand-printed at Quercus Press. Hand sewn, silk headbands; three edges sprinkled with red acrylic ink. Title stamped in black foil. Illustrations scanned from Pictorial Webster’s wall cards laser printed onto goatskin onlays, and outlined with inlaid goatskin lines.
Thirty-three additional illustrations inkjet printed onto Mohawk Superfine text, then hand cut into pop-ups, one sewn inside each of the text block’s signatures. Bound 2011.
6.25 x 5.25 x 2.75”
Design is an abstracted Cambridge panel, color pallet inspired by modern Webster’s dictionaries. Text drawn from the Preface and Introduction describes the original impetus behind the illustrations and the author’s vision for them in this work. Because the dictionary was originally printed to optimize text, not image, Carrera’s work marks the first opportunity for viewers to truly see the illustrations. Pop-ups further bring the illustrations to life.
Oppenheimer Is Watching Me: A Memoir by Jeff Porter, University of Iowa Press, 2007
private collection, Oakland, CA
Full buffalo fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards. Goatskin backpared onlay and inlaid lines. Goatskin edge-to-edge doublure, with impression from inlaid leather lines visible on suede flyleaves. Hand sewn silk headbands, gilt top edge. Bound 2009.
9.5 x 6 x.75"
Design inspired by author’s vignettes of growing up during the Cold War: both the paranoia of nuclear attack and a landscape filled with playful pop culture atomic references.
Les contes de me mère l’Oye (The Tales of Mother Goose) by Charles Perrault, Biennales Mondailes de la Reliure d’Art, 2006
Full goatskin fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards. Gold tooled onlays of red and yellow. Red goatskin doublures and marbled paper flyleaves. Sewn endbands of red yellow and blue silk. Graphite edges. Bound 2007.
11 x 7.75 x 1.25”
Design inspired by the tale Les fees/The Fairies, where flowers and gems fall from the lips of the good daughter when she speaks, and toads and vipers from lips of the evil daughter.
Lebanese Mountain Cookery by Mary Laird Hamady. Boston: David R Godine, 1995.
Collection of the University of Denver
Full goatskin fine binding: sewn on flattened cords laced into boards. False raised bands. Inlays of goatskin and onlays using Paul Delrue’s Lacunose technique of sanded leather scraps. Sunken suede doublure, leather flyleaves. Hand sewn silk headbands, sponged watercolor top edge. Bound 2010.
10.25 x 7.25 x 1”
Design of steaming mountains served up on oval platters. Text block a gift from the author to the binder.
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges, New York: Everyman's Library, 1993
Collection of Michigan State University
Fine binding sewn on tapes laced into boards, covered in full yellow goatskin. Backpared onlays of pale yellow and black. Textured pale yellow endsheets, leather joint. Sewn endbands of black and yellow silk. Acrylic edges. Bound 2006.
8.25 x 5 x 1"
Design inspired by the theme of duality woven through Ficciones, and by Borges’ reminiscence of childhood, “I used to stop for a long time in front of the tiger’s cage to see him pacing back and forth. I liked his natural beauty, his black stripes and his golden stripes. And now that I am blind, one single color remains for me, and it is precisely the color of the tiger, the color yellow.”
The Thread That Binds: Interviews With Private Practice Bookbinders by Pamela Train Leutz, Oak Knoll Press, 2010
Full goatskin English style fine binding, sewn three-color headbands, edge-to edge goatskin doublures, marbled paper flyleaves. Title stamped and marbled paper onlays tooled in gold foil. Bound 2011.
9.5 x 6.25 x 1.25”
Marbled paper onlays attached at points of structural significance: sewing supports and lacing, corners, inside joint and chamfering of boards.