shackled in bookspace

The endpapers were made up from a sheet of Twinrocker handmade paper that I had in the shop. The front pastedown and flyleaf imagery is lettering written with a pointed pen in an intentionally unformed style; that on the pastedown is the first passage the Smith writes in his journal, and that on the flyleaf is the phrase “Down with Big Brother” repeated halfway down the leaf. Across the rear pastedown and flyleaf was written” 2+2=5″ in a shaky hand, and some spatters and rings of acrylic were added. Then all four papers were worked with a mixture of raw umber and black acrylic in paste. Leather joints were cut out and overall pared to the thickness of a piece of one-ply museum board using a Scharffix and edge-pared by hand along one long side. To tone the color of the leather down a bit I lightly airbrushed the joints with raw umber and black.

The endpapers were assembled as in the above diagram. The sheets with the imagery were tipped to the folios, with the images facing out. The joints were tipped next, then the waste sheets. The waste sheets were Hannemuhle Ingres. For clarity, the diagram does not show the additional protection sheet of oaktag inserted between the joint and outer fly, or the compensating piece of one ply next to the joint.

After assembly the endsheets were pressed and cut to size. They were then pressed with the textblock. Because of the value of the book, the edges were not trimmed.

Before marking up, loose guards were folded and added to the outermost signatures. The textblock was marked up for four flat cords and new kettle stations, and all the stations cut into the textblock spine with a very sharp knife. The endpapers were pierced with an awl at the stations.

Including the endpapers, the book was comprised of 12 signatures. I chose to use #25 thread, which turned out to give just a little less swell than I had planned, but it worked out pretty well anyway.

Here’s the sewing in progress…

and here’s the textblock sewn, before taking it off the sewing frame.

Next: spine consolidation and boards.