Back to Bookbinding

In keeping with my determination to finish a few projects, I have gone back to bookbinding.

This is a book for my daughter, Ruth. What is special about it is that she made the marbled paper! She found a pile dating back some years and gave it to me. Lots of lovely stuff. So I made a book for her. The title label has a pastel drawing by Michael of Ruth at about 12 reading a book which I thought was appropriate.

This one has endpapers from Venice. There is some gold leaf in there but it does not show up well in the photo. I have the paper ready for another book using what is left over of the sheet. It will be on the cover and will be done next week. I might also do the Central Asian book which will have mulberry bark paper for the textblock and a cover of Uzbekistan atlas (cotton and silk) in a lurid design.

I have been re-reading Sir Patrick Spens to remind myself of what I need to do in lino-cuts. I found a lot of notes which lay out which verses go on which page and shows a sketch of the accompanying lino-cut. So I am further forward than I thought.  I am off to London for the weekend with great things afoot which I will describe when I get back. I am taking all the paperwork about Sir Patrick Spens because I think we will not be doing anything on Sunday morning.

I must say that, rereading the poem,  some of the wording jars. Because it has been Englishified and it was written in Lallans. 'new' instead of  'braw'.  'to' everywhere instead of 'tae'. The last verse starts 'Half-ouer, half-ouer to Aberdour/ tis fifty fathoms deep whereas Sir Walter Scott says it should be ' Oh, forty miles from Aberdeen'. Stupid. Doesn't have the right ring at all. This is a Border Ballad and it should thump. I have decided to change the wording throughout. I might see if I can find an original.