Vellum

One of our favourite materials at Libre Livre is vellum; animal hide which has been soaked, limed and dried. This fantastic translucent material has been used by scribes since Roman times - it has been suggested that it first came into use by the ancient Greeks as an alternative to papyrus, which was confined to Egypt.

Used for a range of binding styles perhaps the most famous application is as "limp vellum bindings" which served as the medieval filofax. Libre Livre offers limp vellum bindings, including some with Scandinavian style rigid wooden spines, examples of which can be found on our website at Libre Livre

For a magnificent example of a lavish vellum binding click here

This weekend the Head Marbler and I are both going on a course on basic wood-block techniques run by Carolyn Trant. I'll let you know how we get on

Duc de Berry

Another wonderful example of medieval work is found in the Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry. To see some of the glorious illuminations click here: Duc de Berry

The Luttrell Psalter

At Libre Livre one of our regrets is that we do not get many books of Hours through the workshop door. These wonderful medieval volumes, often written on vellum, are lavishly decorated - the charm of the Luttrell Psalter is that it contains a number of scenes of daily life in the Middle Ages - as well as mythical animals and Biblical scenes.

To find out a little more about it click here: Luttrell Psalter

Angels

Those who know me will be aware that as well as printing and binding I also do some consultancy work from time to time. Yesterday was one of my days in town, and on the train home I was delighted to discover a bumper puzzle page in the Evening Standard, a new feature.

The Head Marbler, who was on the same train, and I grappled unsuccessfully with the names of 25 Wimbledon champions, and failed to work the Magic Square. Then I saw a trivia quiz that I was sure we could do. The first question was along the lines "in the Jewish and Christian religions, what is the name of the senior angels". I know, I thought: Seraphim, or was it Cherubs? Turning it over I was startled to read the word "Shrimps".

Careful proof reading - and the above is an example of the kind of mistakes that can occur when the eye jumps a line or two - is vital for a printer, as we discovered yet again this week. We spent an entire day printing a short work of prose for a new client; justifying the ten lines took well over an hour, then we mixed the ink to the exact colour she had specified, put new rollers in the press, and produced our proof. After some time jiggling around to get even pressure across the paper the result looked fine, so we took a sheet of the beautiful, and expensive Somerset Velvet paper the client had chosen, damped it and let the presses roll. After several attempts produced a copy we both thought met the high standards we impose at Libre Livre.

Only then did the Head Marbler do a final proof check and discover a mistake: an "ell for an aye" - or to put it another way "Oh, 'ell my eye". Re-justify, re-balance, re-proof and print. Two hours later and we were done, and knackered, both.