#sg bookbinding

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A Supremely Beautiful Behemoth

This book, to date, is the most beautiful and the biggest book I have ever laid my eyes and hands on. Cabinet Choisi De Curiositez Naturelles by Georg Wolfgang Knorr is the highlight of 2020 for me, as a bookbinder, as well as a bibliophile. 

This first edition, was by Georg Wolfgang Knorr, a German engraver and scientist, and was later finished by his heirs. It is an imperial folio (355 x 505mm) and the entire binding measures 370 x 517 x 72mm and weighs a hefty 9 kilos!

All the plates were carefully printed onto the pages and are not tipped on, which means that this book was made with extreme care and extravagance during its time. All the plates are hand-painted and for a 250 year old book, the colours of the hand-painted plates are still very vibrant and colourful. This really shows the quality of the pigments that were used. There is even no ghosting on the opposite pages. 

This big boy only needed a tiny Japanese tissue support on the hinge near the head of the front board. It is toned to match the leather. I believe this book was rebound sometime in the mid 19th century and the spine leather has been replaced, most likely due to rot. The front and back boards original leather was laid onto the new leather. 

I must say, being able to see and touch this book had made it a tremendous way to end the wonderful year of 2020.

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A Floral Rebirth

Very often when customers come to get their bibles rebound, I will suggest for them to look for a patterned cloth that they like at fabric shops. The choices of printed fabric today are limitless and amongst the thousands of rolls of cloth, there is bound to be one that resonates with their personality. Ready-made book cloth often come only in solid colours, and that is very limiting. But because I offer the service of making regular fabric into book cloth, a very personalised look can be achieved. 

This beautiful floral fabric is paired with a dark maroon book cloth and matching ribbons in three colours to give a very vibrant and cheerful Sunday afternoon cocktail dress feel. It reflects the personality of my customer, who is a very happy, energetic and cheerful lady, with a feminine touch of elegance. 

Bound using the disappearing spine Bradel binding, with the floral cloth on the front board, and maroon bookcloth over the spine and back board. 

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The Balance Between Retaining the History of And Restoration of A Book - Carte Des Voyages De Cook

It is an endless argument about the repair and restoration versus preserving as much of the original history of the book. Often I ask myself, as well as being asked by others, what are my principles behind how I approach the books that I restore.

The utmost important aspect of restoration for me is the integrity of the binding. As a book, it has to function for it to be handled and enjoyed by the owner. The boards have to be attached to the text block, firmly and effectively functional, and the spine to hold the pages well.

My next most important aspect is to be sympathetic to the history of the book. I will remove as little of the original as possible, determining what is affecting the book and needs to be removed. The repairs that I do are completely reversible, giving support while blending with the overall look of the book.

In the restoration of Carte Des Voyages De Cook, these are the main guidelines too. The book is repaired, it functions but overall, it still looks its age. The leather has been consolidated, new head and tail caps are replaced with toned leather. The hinge has been carefully supported by toned Japanese tissue. The endpaper hinge is also supported by Japanese tissue but is left untoned since the colour is not too far from the original endpaper. 

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A Book of Poems

Most times, when people have to put together a book they have written, their first thought would be to get it bound. But with the limited choices here in Singapore, many will end up using the plastic ring binding that we often see used for notes or documents. It comes with a flimsy plastic front and a lack-lustre card backing.

My customer decided to give his wife a birthday surprise by getting her book of poems bound into a nice proper book. He chose a purple book cloth and when I showed him some flottage papers I made earlier, said that his wife will definitely love those. So I made more flottage papers, matching the purple to the book cloth. 

Instead of printing the front title plate using the computer, I decided to take out the Adana 8x5 which was sitting at the top of my shelf, collecting dust, and do a nice letterpress title plate. It was a coincidence that I had almost the same lead fonts as what she had on her original title page. A little extra effort that makes the title plate more timeless and classic, and it definitely surpasses the quality of a standard print from a modern printer. 

Happy Birthday, Mariam. I hope this inspires you to write again. 

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From Paperback to Flat Hardback Bradel Binding

Just before I start work on commissions again, I decided that I should do a small practice to refresh my bookbinding skills after making boxes for almost 2 months. 

I bought this reference book “The Archeology of Medieval Bookbinding” some years ago and have read some parts of it. I find it very annoying because the paperback is laminated and due to the humidity in Singapore, it has started to curve outwards. The lamination is peeling and the cover tends to get caught when I put it back into the shelf. I decided that it is time for it to get a makeover.

This paperback is commercially made, in the most economical way. The adhesive used is a heat-set adhesive that is thick and with most paperbacks, will eventually harden and break. After removing the paperback cover and the horrid adhesive, I started its rebinding process.

I used a flottage paper I made some years ago, and paired it with a very nice olive green paper. As with everything that I do, I try to find opportunities to learn something new with every book or box I make. For this, I decided to attempt making the made endbands using book cloth, and adding stripes by sewing silk threads on it. It turned out really beautiful once it was placed on the textblock. Finally I used an old green book cloth which I find very charming with its wear, and paired it with a linen canvas book cloth that has foxed. Due to the humidity of Singapore, a lot of my materials tend to suffer the fate of foxing, and usually the external surface that is exposed to the air often get affected. Instead of throwing them away, I decided to use these materials for myself. Since I know why it happens, and that it will not affect the integrity of the binding too much. Anyway, this binding is for myself, so if I am happy with it, that is all that matters. 

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A Skirt From Cambodia

Most of the time when my customers come to me to ask for a rebinding of their worn out bibles, I offer them a choice of either a solid colour book cloth from my stock or if they would like, to find a piece of patterned fabric that they like. I will then make use of that fabric to make book cloth out of it. Based on the colours from the pattern, I will then choose matching coloured endpapers and ribbon markers. 

This lovely lady came to me with a skirt she bought from Cambodia. She likes the pattern on it, though we both felt it was a pity to cut into her skirt. But I rarely need a very large area and we both agreed to use the lower quarter of the skirt because the patterns were nice and she could make the skirt shorter and still wear it. 

Perhaps there might be a piece of clothing, a skirt, a shirt or a bedsheet that you love but can no longer be used as what it was meant for. I can make that into book cloth to cover your books or box. The possibilities are endless. 

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The Repair of “L’Empire Colonia De La France Indo-Chine”

Books that have some form of attempted repair by someone who is obviously not a bookbinder or book conservator, it usually comes with Scotch-tape, also known as Sellotape. This book belongs to a Rare Book Collection in an Institution’s library and I was commissioned to repair it.

The binding looks modern, perhaps some time in the 70s or 80s, because the decorative paper that was used with the quarter leather binding is a strange material that as seen in the photographs, has a moray pattern and texture to it. 

The hinge on the front was about 60% detached, and after consolidating the leather, I lifted the parts that have broken, and inserted a thinly pared leather between the original leather and the boards. Thankfully, the calf leather I had was similar in colour to the original leather and I did not have to do much toning. The inner hinges were repaired using Japanese kozo tissue and left untoned. 

One fascinating thing about this book is that it is a collection of journals that were bound together into a volume. The library stamp inside the book was by a “Mobilization And Intelligence Department” and coincidently, stamped on my birthday, November 5th. But it was way before I was born, in 1903. 

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Tyvek® Flottage Bible

In my recent experimentations with Tyvek® as a covering material, it has gained some interests from my customers. This material is essentially plastic fibres that are made to mimic paper. Though the material is strong, tear and water resistant, it cannot withstand high heat. It takes oil-based inks rather well, in the form of flottage. Flottage is similar to marbling or suminagashi, where inks float on the surface of water, and is “caught” by the paper or material that is submerged or laid on it. 

My customer wanted to have a go with doing the flottage herself, exploring the mixing of colours, right up to getting a surprise every time she dips the paper or Tyvek® into the water. Though flottage barely allows one to have any control, she gets to see the results every time and enjoys the joy of being part of the making process of creating a cover and endpapers for her book.

For a more personalised experience in creating a flottage cover and endpapers for your book, I now offer a 2 hour Open Studio session where you come in to the studio and get involved in the making of your flottage papers with my guidance. Please email me at [email protected] or Whatsapp me at [phone] for more details.