Commissioned Bindings, 2018–2020, and Beyond
Jerry Kelly. The Calligraphy Revival 1906–2016. New York: The Grolier Club, 2017.
Black crushed goatskin features horizontal and vertical onlays of royal blue goatskin with gilt titling and flourished ribbons. Claudia Cohen created this binding at her studio in Seattle in 2018.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.15.
The Grolier Club Iter Siniticum: A Bibliophilic Tour of China. Ed. Eric Holzenberg, Don J. Cohn, Susan R. Hanes, & Jeremy M. Norman. New York: Arion Press for The Grolier Club, 2018.
The binding and its enclosure were created in China by Lu Jingren in 2018. The light-blue textile is patterned in dark-blue brocade and white bullion, and the wooden box, with a titled sliding closure, is engraved and partially inlaid with a Chinese red brocade cloth.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.16.
George Fletcher. French Book Arts: Manuscripts, Printed Books, Bindings, Prints, & Documents, 12th–21st Century. New York: The Grolier Club, 2018.
A. This ingenious binding is made of thinly skived (laser-cut) flexible stone with wooden inserts, the bookblock secured into the binding with seven pairs of gold fixtures. It was created by Sün Evrard in France in 2018.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.17.
B. Midnight-blue goatskin is richly gilt in an expansive dentelle design of leafy and figured sprays created by Trevor Lloyd, ᴍ.ʙ.ᴇ. in Shropshire in 2018. Its design alludes to the work of such historic French binders as Padeloup le Jeune and Derome le Jeune.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.17.
Susan Jaffe Tane & Gabriel McKee. “A Literary Fellowship”: Relationships and Rivalries in 19th-century American Literature. New York: The Grolier Club, 2017.
Portraits of eighteen literary lights during 19th-century America are set into this red goatskin binding. The inserts are of silver foil on black goatskin. The binding was created by the Sargents in 2018 at their Dragonfly Bindery in Rhode Island.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.18.
Henry Wessells. A Conversation Larger than the Universe: Readings in Science Fiction and the Fantastic, 1762–2017. New York: The Grolier Club, 2018.
Midnight-blue goatskin is decorated in a gilt double panel design, the inner panel filled with gilt leafy sprays. The binding was created in 2018 by Wesley Baker at his studio in Alabama.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.19.
Susan Jaffe Tane & Karen Karbiener, with Julie Carlsen & Gabriel McKee. Poet of the Body: New York’s Walt Whitman. New York: The Grolier Club, 2019.
The vibrant pink calf is inlaid with two counterposed full-body images of Whitman, pen in hand, in black and white goatskin. His phrase “Listener up there” and other images complete the ensemble. Inspired by Jerry Kelly’s design for the dust jacket of the original edition, the binding was created in 2019 at the Dragonfly Bindery, in Rhode Island.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.20.
Patricia J. Pistner & Jan Storm van Leeuwen. A Matter of Size: Miniature Bindings & Texts from the Collection of Patricia J. Pistner. Ed. George Ong. New York: The Grolier Club, 2019.
Black goatskin inlaid with fourteen book-shaped plaques bearing texts, with flashes of gold leaf and red onlays, along with scattered polychrome stars. The binding was created by Robert Wu at his Toronto studio in 2019.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.21 b.
Naomi L. Nelson, Lauren Reno, & Lisa Unger Baskin. Five Hundred Years of Women’s Work: The Collection of Lisa Unger Baskin. Durham: Duke University Library & New York: The Grolier Club, 2019.
Tan buffalo hide embroidered in a wreath inspired by Maria Sibylla Merian’s botanical studies and publications. The 2020 binding and embroidery are the work of Erin Fletcher at her Herringbone Bindery, now at Austin.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Cat. no. 9.22.
Steven Lomazow. Magazines and the American Experience: Highlights from the Collection of Steven Lomazow, m.d. New York: The Grolier Club, 2021.
Bright blue goatskin is filled with polychrome leather panels, inspired by period magazines, including an image of Uncle Sam. The panels are mounted in recesses in both covers. The binding was created in 2021 by George and Patricia Sargent at their Dragonfly Bindery in Rhode Island.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Post-catalogue.
Jerry Kelly. One Hundred Books Famous in Typography. New York: The Grolier Club, 2021.
The French-style fine binding in ivory-colored buffalo skin was embroidered by Erin Fletcher at her Herringbone Bindery in Austin in 2021. The popular name for the bark beetle embroidered on the front cover is “the typographer.”
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Post-catalogue.
Josephine Lea Iselin. “The Great George”: Cruikshank and London’s Graphic Humorists (1800–1850). New York: The Grolier Club, 2021.
The binding of dark blue goatskin is in a double panel and diamond centerpiece design inspired by English fine bindings of the first half of the 19th century, Cruikshank’s era. It was created by Trevor Lloyd, m.b.e. in Shropshire, in 2021.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Post-catalogue.
Nicolas Fry. Travelers, Tracks, and Tycoons: The Railroad in American Life and Legend. New York: The Grolier Club, 2022.
Tan calf, with scenes from the classic era of railroading on both covers, from steam engine to caboose, created by tattooing in black ink. The binding was created by Aarom von Hemmersbach, in Canada, in 2023.
The Grolier Club Bookbindings Collection.
Post-catalogue.