Unabridged
Unabridged
Linen thread, some made into sewing supports by the binder; wood boards; repurposed Random House Unabridged Dictionary pages, parchment hooked endleaves. Thread color and wood for boards vary. Created 2020.
approximately 4 x 4 x 13”
Series of 20
In late 2018 I responded to a call for entries to make a book from one volume of a 1910 encyclopedia that would otherwise have been discarded. I viewed the book as a supply of wonderfully thin but surprisingly strong paper with a lovey, subtle pattern. The strength provided by packed sewing on double cords supplemented with endbands with frequent tie-downs transformed the binding into a kind of medieval slinky.
Early in the Pandemic while I listened to my Governor's daily hour-long briefing, I began work on a series of similar but much thicker books, each made from one entire Random House Unabridged Dictionary. The bindings are stripped down to their most elemental structure: paper, linen, wood. Any ornamentation comes only from those materials: the pattern of the text, the tone and grain of the wood, the color of the thread and the sewing supports. I began to vary the later by making my own sewing cord from linen thread using historical rope-making techniques.
After the initial books are sold, subsequent books will be made to order and not available for immediate delivery
Unabridged
Linen thread, some made into sewing supports by the binder; wood boards; repurposed Random House Unabridged Dictionary pages, parchment hooked endleaves. Thread color and wood for boards vary. Created 2020.
approximately 4 x 4 x 13”
Series of 20
In late 2018 I responded to a call for entries to make a book from one volume of a 1910 encyclopedia that would otherwise have been discarded. I viewed the book as a supply of wonderfully thin but surprisingly strong paper with a lovey, subtle pattern. The strength provided by packed sewing on double cords supplemented with endbands with frequent tie-downs transformed the binding into a kind of medieval slinky.
Early in the Pandemic while I listened to my Governor's daily hour-long briefing, I began work on a series of similar but much thicker books, each made from one entire Random House Unabridged Dictionary. The bindings are stripped down to their most elemental structure: paper, linen, wood. Any ornamentation comes only from those materials: the pattern of the text, the tone and grain of the wood, the color of the thread and the sewing supports. I began to vary the later by making my own sewing cord from linen thread using historical rope-making techniques.
After the initial books are sold, subsequent books will be made to order and not available for immediate delivery
Unabridged
Linen thread, some made into sewing supports by the binder; wood boards; repurposed Random House Unabridged Dictionary pages, parchment hooked endleaves. Thread color and wood for boards vary. Created 2020.
approximately 4 x 4 x 13”
Series of 20
In late 2018 I responded to a call for entries to make a book from one volume of a 1910 encyclopedia that would otherwise have been discarded. I viewed the book as a supply of wonderfully thin but surprisingly strong paper with a lovey, subtle pattern. The strength provided by packed sewing on double cords supplemented with endbands with frequent tie-downs transformed the binding into a kind of medieval slinky.
Early in the Pandemic while I listened to my Governor's daily hour-long briefing, I began work on a series of similar but much thicker books, each made from one entire Random House Unabridged Dictionary. The bindings are stripped down to their most elemental structure: paper, linen, wood. Any ornamentation comes only from those materials: the pattern of the text, the tone and grain of the wood, the color of the thread and the sewing supports. I began to vary the later by making my own sewing cord from linen thread using historical rope-making techniques.
After the initial books are sold, subsequent books will be made to order and not available for immediate delivery
