#douglas cockerell

[book-historia]

There are so many different patterns of marbled paper out there! Marbling is done by suspending colorful inks in a bath of semi-viscous fluid, then placing a piece of paper on top; when you lift the paper, it picks up the inks. You often find marbled paper on the bindings or endleaves of books 📚 Douglas Cockerell and Son in the UK were known for their INCREDIBLE marbled paper patterns in the middle quarter of the 20th century – this is one of their paper sample books, and how their paper looks in a binding 😍

You can see more of Douglas Cockerell and Son's marbling process here!

[book-historia]

I recently made a blog post about my quest for records of book conservation in the University of Glasgow library, and the importance of retaining these records for future researchers. Check it out!

[book-historia]

It’s Monday Tuesday, and that means it’s Diagram Day! In this series, I’ll be highlighting books with diagrams of all sorts, from machinery to gardening to shipbuilding.

As I have been neck-deep in thesis writing for the past month, I decided to feature these lovely diagrams from Douglas Cockerell’s Bookbinding and the Care of Books, published in 1901. Cockerell, and his son Sydney after him, ran a prominent bindery until the mid-1980s. I’m using this book as a source in my thesis, because not only did they bind new books, they were world-renowned for the rebinding of important works, including illuminated manuscripts. Douglas and Sydney were ahead of their time in how they approached rebinding and conservation, opting to retain original structures and elements when they could instead of simply placing works into brand new bindings. I could go on... (and I might later!)

These diagrams offer a peek into the workings of the Cockerell bindery, depicting everything from how to properly fold gatherings to how to combine tools to make patterns on leather bindings. I particularly love the way the hands are depicted- calloused and confident with the books, but gentle.

[crushed-like-a-bug]

I think this is the most fascinating thing I have ever seen on youtube. Beautiful. Paper is cool.