Hannah Brown
La Prose du Transsibérien Re-creation
Size of binding
372 x 110 x 21 mm (14.65 x 4.3 x .827 in)
Materials
Wooden dowel, watercolour paper, goatskin, vellum, embroidery threads, tulip wood (for container)
From the Collection of Neale Albert
Description of binding
The case for this concertina binding was made by making a fake round from a half-round wooden dowel. This was covered in layers of watercolour paper followed by a layer of aerolinen and leather to finish off the spine and attach the boards to it.
The author of the book, Blaise Cendrars, lost his right arm in WW1 and had to learn to write with his left hand following this. Taken from examples of his actual handwriting, the left-hand board (back) has part of the story transcribed in his left hand and the right-hand board (front) in his right hand. The words are intricately embroidered using the colours and patterns taken from the wonderfully vibrant pochoir of Sonia Delaunay.
Artist bio
Hannah specialises in fine bookbinding and other bespoke commissioned works with a particular focus on embroidery on leather. She works with a variety of materials and objects, creating unique and hand-crafted pieces from scratch from her home studio in Somerset, UK. She has won a variety of bookbinding prizes in the UK including two “Distinguished Winners” in the 2013 and 2017 Designer Bookbinders International Competitions and has bindings in private collections worldwide, plus a number of institutions including the Boston Athenaeum and the British Library.
Not for sale