Being that the subject matter was in line with folklore and mythology, I wanted to have an exterior that would reflect the magical nature of its contents – while not going too over-the-top. Since the range of folklore is so wide, covering many of the known mythologies throughout the northern world, I opted to not carve a specific motif for the covers. While it was something I wanted to do, I felt that choosing one would thereby exclude the others. And, as my old master would often say, “sometimes, simpler is better”. Knowing when to extravagate is just as important as knowing when to keep things simple.

The leather for this book is a first for me. I’ve worked with Morocco many times in the past, but this was the first time I’d been able to acquire Vegetable Tanned Morocco. I found a leather supplier in California who happened to have a single hide left. It was a bit thinner, which was to be expected, however, I was astonished at just how supple it was when it arrived. I could tell the moment I began working that this would be a special book.

To achieve the color I chose a water-based leather dye called Evening Violet. After three coats of dye, I felt the color was a nice hue of the purple I was going for. Additionally, I wanted to ensure that the title panel would stand out a bit, being an Orchid color of the same material (which is honestly one of my favorite colors to work with). I feel the Orchid-colored leather is just a fantastic, deep, nuanced material and I love any chance I get to work with it.

I am doing something a bit different with this book and offering it for sale via Etsy. If you’re interested, check out the listing or simply send me an email and we can talk about it. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1282731139/rare-gnomes-fairies-elves-and-other

While I’ve worked with this client in the past, on a project that was intricately decorated, we decided to go a different route on this one. We focused much of our efforts on ensuring the contents of the book looked good and laid out well. Conversely, the exterior remained simple and mostly undecorated. With this in mind, I provided some examples of leather we could use and the client chose a fine Morocco in a “chestnut” brown. This is from the Oasis line of Morocco (Goat) leather offered by J Hewit & Sons. This is one of the finest producers of high-quality bookbinding leather and I always enjoy working with it when I have the chance. Skiving the leather is particularly satisfying and the blade moves through the skin like a hot knife through butter. 

I chose this particular hide because of the deep pours and “skin character”. Normally, these attributes would be flattened out with an iron polisher to create a smooth, glass-like appearance. However, since the client wanted more of a “distressed” look, there is minimal manipulation. More attention was placed on polishing and working on the spine and title panel, as these are the parts of the book most often seen from a bookshelf. In sticking with the simple design expression, we also opted to use a plain endleaf, as opposed to the marbled paper I typically work with. These endleafs are Canson Mi-Teintes in tobacco brown. All of the paper used in the project are acid-free and produced in a neutral environment – which ensures longevity and resistance to the negative aging effects that come with time. 

Additionally, since this is a “twin” set of books, I took as much care and attention as possible to ensure that each book matched the other. Hand bookbinding is inherently a custom act, with each book expressing different attributes during the construction. Accounting for this, there is minimal difference between each book, though, there are subtle individualities that can be seen – if one knows where to look.