English Book Binder

Period Fine Bindings - Irregular Newsletter: Issue No 4. September 2006

Welcome to the 4th issue of The English Bookbinder "Irregular newsletter"

OH CANADA EH! 5 weeks and 3000 driving miles later.....the restorer returns.

We left the June issue with a possible concealment within TE Lawrence's 2 vol set of Josephus...well have I got news for you...but before all that, what was going on with the first folio Shakespeare ?

After all the excitement, the Shakespeare First folio was sold for the highest price ever seen for a printed book at Sotheby's London.The hammer price was £2.5 million plus the buyer's premium making a total of £2.8million... However; the word around the auction room was that considering the condition and   provenance of this folio, from Dr Williams' Library, the buyer obtained a very good deal.

Newspaper reports stated it was "impeccably preserved in its original brown calfskin"

Ahem...This is a very important piece...but no where near a contemporary binding....The book has been trimmed at least 1/4 inch on all edges, speckled and re-bound, with the Williams Library crest gilt embossed to the centre somewhere around 1750.....The title page and 1st few leaves are in poor condition in need of restoration (as is the binding), the title having the Williams Library ink stamp to the foot of the page, this will retain its provenace from 1716 - to present.....and it is missing 1 page........Non the less, it is doubtful you will see another good honest First Folio in auction over the next several decades.... Simon Finch's client must be ecstatic that most of the big spenders never showed.... and Sotheby's must have been very disappointed at their absence also!

Welcome to the 4th issue of The English Bookbinder "Irregular newsletter"

OH CANADA EH! 5 weeks and 3000 driving miles later.....the restorer returns.

We left the June issue with a possible concealment within TE Lawrence's 2 vol set of Josephus...well have I got news for you...but before all that, what was going on with the first folio Shakespeare ?

After all the excitement, the Shakespeare First folio was sold for the highest price ever seen for a printed book at Sotheby's London.The hammer price was £2.5 million plus the buyer's premium making a total of £2.8million... However; the word around the auction room was that considering the condition and   provenance of this folio, from Dr Williams' Library, the buyer obtained a very good deal.

Newspaper reports stated it was "impeccably preserved in its original brown calfskin"

Ahem...This is a very important piece...but no where near a contemporary binding....The book has been trimmed at least 1/4 inch on all edges, speckled and re-bound, with the Williams Library crest gilt embossed to the centre somewhere around 1750.....The title page and 1st few leaves are in poor condition in need of restoration (as is the binding), the title having the Williams Library ink stamp to the foot of the page, this will retain its provenace from 1716 - to present.....and it is missing 1 page........Non the less, it is doubtful you will see another good honest First Folio in auction over the next several decades.... Simon Finch's client must be ecstatic that most of the big spenders never showed.... and Sotheby's must have been very disappointed at their absence also!

There seems to be a growing trend in rather large Bibles!!

And they are all from the 18th Century...I must have at least 15 in for restoration at the moment, all of them large folio subscribers "rough calf" or Cambridge panelled calf bindings... anyway this is the one I did before I went away.

Stripped, page restoration and flexibly sewn on hand made hemp cords with laced-in boards and hand marbled endpapers with extra fly leaves. Full bound in a natural colour veg tanned goatskin with the grain crushed out. Paste washed and 3 veg colours applied. Tallow coated and blind tooled borders with pontille tooled edges and inner dentelles.

Gilt panelled spine with hand lettered willow calf label. Finished and hot iron polished.

A Bible of this size will take a whole large goatskin to cover!

PS. I have about half a dozen in stock if anyone is looking to purchase one!

Concealed Things - The Conclusion!!

Don't forget to click on the pics to enlarge!

In the last issue we left off with lifting the 2 vignettes from TE Lawrence's "Josephus"...Well ! remember I mentioned vignettes pasted down to the end board can sometimes mean concealment...I was right! there was something concealed.

After carefully lifting 4 layers of paper.......there it was.....A MAP.....A HAND DRAWN MAP....A MAP OF.......GREAT BRITAIN!!!....WITH A DATE!

The Map shows England, Scotland and Ireland and strangely marked is the Isle of wight

The whole country is circled with "boat" shaped squares, one or two with "masts" and you can barely make out the word "frigate" at the bottom and  "St Georges Cove". To the right is the date 17.7.22. that is interesting because Lawrence joined the RFC (now the RAF) covertly in 1922 under the pseudonym Mr Ross on the instruction of Churchill......could this be a plan of an invasion of England?????

My only thought was......" Ahh shoot....now I have to restore the edges instead of just re-mounting the plate!!!!........more work!

Mr Ross was apparently found out and his cover blown....he quickly joined the Tank Corp under  the name  Mr Smythe, here again under the instruction of Churchill he was sent to the Emirates where he was deeply involved in the secular youth corps of Freemasonry known as "Young Societies", when he was assigned to Intelligence in Cairo to investigate the Arab revolt against the Turks he set up secular Young Egypt and initiated male youth and trained them in subversion, and formed the Muslim Brotherhood (oh heck!!).

Lawrence was a Freemason, yet no record of his credentials are forthcoming, so there is no proof....except maybe this......

On page 53 of vol.1 there are two words written in pencil in the same hand as the map and marked is the reference where Josephus describes the porchway or entrance... the two pillars of King Solomon's Temple. These two words are the passwords for the 1st and 2nd degree in Freemasonry.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was killed in a motorbike accident in 1935...allegedly avoiding 2 children on their bicycles.

Conservation is all about time and patience

........................and total concentration.

Having made custom made clam shell boxes
for them, these two important volumes will now
be preserved for a long time

The Canadian Adventure

We landed in Toronto around 7am, picked up the car and headed straight for Arthur (the town..silly). It was great to see Donna and Peter again, we left them last year just starting on a 7.5 foot statue of "Orange Lawrence" the founder of Orangeville, now its nearly finished and will be unveiled sometime next month where it will stand proud in the centre of the town. A fitting tribute to the town, but more so to these two unbelievably talented artists.

Its "The Boys Weekend" ..a 4 hour drive for me, Pete, Doug and Jim, to Doug's cottage island in Parry Sound. This is where the adventure starts (well for me at least), its... load up and head out.... time. Yeah!!

We loaded up the Land Rover said our goodbyes and headed for Doug's while the girls were left thinking "Oh god not again" ...it was going to be a long weekend....good job there was enough wine in the cellar.

We arrived on Doug's Island raised the flags and loaded the gun, this is one party no one was going to "crash"...

There are some very strange sights in Canada but we were prepared for  anything.....like
The Hitler cats that live in the wild. They didn't feel threatening, a disturbing fact due to their ever increasing numbers...and knowing that "occupation" of the cottage would be their primary target.

We were prepared for ghost like creatures emerging from the lake and Red Hatted ladies, docile when grouped, but deadly when they divide and form packs, (Packs...not pacts!) especially if they smell cake!

We were even prepared for "alien" remains and strange rock formations!

In fact the wolves, bears and
mountain lions didn't  bother us.....
But the one thing we were not prepared for was...........

The Honey Brothers!

Dave on the right is a famous martial arts expert, listed in the American Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Whilst brother Jimmy on the left is the Canadian representative for the World Explorers Club ( yeah right!! )

Very many thanks for the generous hospitality of Donna and Pete, Joanie and Steve, Doug and Irene, Jimmy & co, Dave and family, Beth, Stephanie, Yvonne, Debbie,Veronica and most important Pauline and Bill Honey for making our stay unforgettable.

Last issue  I mentioned that I would show you how I parked the  QEII in a Norwegian car park.
Well here is me looking very smug after my 3rd attempt, and Margaret looking nonchalant at the result!

Next issue I'll show you how I nicked Our Lord's bread bun without him noticing,
at the table of the Last Supper

To return to issue 1 click  here  

To return to Royal bindings page click  here   

To email Paul click  here