Thanks for joining me in celebrating Birthday Bound; the publication bookiversary of a guide to creating books of your own!
People have told me that they
- keep Bound by their bed because they find it relaxing
- love how it lies flat so that they can easily follow the projects
- read it like a magazine
- have gifted it to many friends
- found it in their local library...in Australia!
- keep it in their studio
- refer to it frequently
- used it as the focus for their craft group
- made every project from start to finish!
Have I missed anything out? Please let me know in the comments below.
Goodness, this smiling face was beaming six years ago, signing books at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Here's to remembering the first Birthday Bound and how it came to be.
Scroll back to March 2017 when an e-mail arrived from Commissioning Editor Judith Hannam asking if I'd be interested in writing a book about bookbinding for Kyle. How long do you think it took me to say YES?!
A book can reach more readers and further than in-person workshops can, and having taught for twenty years at that point, the opportunity to spread the bookbinding word was grasped with all my heart.
Working with an amazing publishing team, Bound took a year and a half to come to life. Susan Bell's photography changed how I thought a how-to book could be, Miranda Harvey's design made the narrative elegant and Esther Coombs line-drawn diagrams of knots and folds clarify the written instructions.
As I'd put together e-courses (firstly and most gratefully PaperLove with Beth Kempton in 2014) and online classes, the main issue with the process of presenting fifteen bookbinding projects was deciding which to choose! I loved seeing the book take shape, and learnt so much about the publication industry.
It has been an utter joy to see how far Bound has travelled, and how many people have created and developed their own book art. Have you got a story to tell about your bookbinding journey? I'd love to know.
And here's the US cover! Isn't the lightness lovely?
Recently, printmaker Kelly Stewart discovered the Spanish edition (published by Blume) in the Reina Sofia museum bookshop in Madrid. Amazing.
Reprinted three times (UK edition), Bound can be found in bookshops, libraries, galleries and private collections around the world.
Huge thanks for reading, sharing, promoting and experimenting with this book!
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