Artistic binding on Aesop's Fabulae Aesopicae, Leipzig, 1810. Bound in 2020-2021.
Aesop’s Fables have been printed hundreds of times across the last five centuries. The Fables describe animals as flawed characters caught in the same web of foibles and mistakes as human beings. The binding design utilizes a dark background with a single gold line that moves across the boards and leads into the interior. Feathered pieces of leather spread out from the gold line. Negative space provides focus on the shapes which move and undulate, reflecting the challenge of life’s challenges and dilemmas across time.
Artistic bindings executed on historic textblocks are rare due to a wish to avoid jettisoning historical bindings. Because this copy had been appalling rebound during the late 20th century, it was a pleasure to discard the extant binding and rebind it. Aesop’s Fables describe animals as flawed characters caught in the same web of foibles and mistakes as human beings. The design utilizes feathered pieces of leather spreading from a single gold line moving across the boards and into the interior. Negative space provides focus on the shapes which move and undulate, reflecting the challenge of life’s dilemmas across time.
THIS BINDING IS FOR SALE FOR $2000.
This unfortunate volume was in a modern aqua-colored cloth with the spine chopped and the leaves adhesive bound, therefore it was rebound. The volume was disbound and the binding discarded.
The loose leaves were guarded into sections with kozo paper using wheat starch paste. There are new endsheets of cotton/abaca laid paper.
The sections and endsheets were sewn all along on three flattened 6-ply cords. The volume was slightly rounded and backed. The edges were trimmed and decorated with acrylic pigments and gold foil. There are front bead light gray silk headbands
The book is covered in full dark blue goatskin, with edge-to-edge doublures.
The binding is decorated with feathered onlaid leather and a single line of gold kidskin wrapping around the boards and spine.