Awards and Prizes

The 2000 Designer Bookbinder Competition was held at the end of last year. This year, the J. Hewit & Son prize for 'The Interesting Treatment of Leather' was awarded to Mia Leijonstedt. The prize was truly deserved for her binding of Lear's 'Complete Nonsense', published by The Folio Society.

Obituary
Jan Blake 1963-2000

We were saddened to learn of the death of Jan Blake. After University, Jan trained as a Bookbinder at the London College of Printing. From then on her first love was that Craft. Anyone who came in contact with her was aware of her enthusiasm and dedication. Jan's skills both as a designer and a craftsman, combined with managerial know-how, took her to Sangorski & Sutcliff and Zaehnsdorf with Tony Rainbird and to Shepherds Bookbinders, indispersed with bouts of freelance binding. Those collectors, who commissioned her work will treasure it. Those of us who were touched by her fervour will mourn her tragic premature death and will never forget her vivacity.

Rex Prepared Paste

Back in the Summer, we had to temporarily remove from sale, our stock of Rex Prepared Paste due to manufacturing problems. These problems have been solved and we are pleased to advise that the Rex Paste is now available again at the same prices.

New Publications

We have brought into stock the two popular 'How to' books by John Mitchell, An Introduction to Edge Decoration and An Introduction to Gold Finishing . These books have been designed and written as practical guides to these two skills. The text and illustrations have been compiled in a format that will enable the binder to use the books not only as an exhaustive source of information, but as a practical step-by-step working guide to the many and complex techniques involved.

These books are published by the Standing Press and are priced at £35.00 each.

Replacement Blades for Brockman Paring Machine

We will shortly be stocking, stronger and more suitable replacement Blades for the Brockman Paring Machine.