Libre Livre

Back from the Congo

2011-06-30T02:19:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I attended a conference on manuscript research, 'Writing and re-Writing the Bible' at Lambeth Palace, where I arrived rather early.

Told to make my way round to the main entrance, I did just that and waited at the top of the stairs leading to the Palace proper- as opposed to the entrance to Library where I should have been. After a few minutes a car drew up, and the Archbishop himself got out, back, as I later discovered, from a trip to the Congo. I smiled in what I hoped was a natural way, which may have seemed a surprising welcome home.

He smiled and nodded at me and proceeded past suitcase in hand.

Oh, yes, and in case anybody is wondering, the conference was excellent.

A Prize Book

2011-04-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

As regular readers will know, one of my research interests is 'reward' books given around the turn of the 19th/20th century. Politically motivated to keep boys 'up to the mark' and girls in their place we can only imagine the damage they did.

Anyway, here is a nice example of a book no boy would have been ashamed to win:

A bit of colour

2011-03-31T02:02:00.001-07:00

Spring is on the way, but it is not quite here yet.

At Libre Livre we think there are days when you need a bit of extra colour.

Our handmade books provide a unique way to add a bit of colour to your grey days

of course, you could buy a parrot instead.

Libre Livre on Facebook

2011-03-23T03:13:00.000-07:00

Libre Livre is now on Facebook.

Click this link to check out Libre Livre on Facebook and while you're there, why not click Like so that your friends can share our webpage.

Blocks

2011-03-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

At Libre Livre we have a lare collection of historic print blocks. Here is an example of three, which make ideal decorations on cards and letterheads for people who want to stand out from the crowd - unless, of course, you would rather just download some free clipart and use that instead.

Back to the future

2011-03-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

One of Libre Livre's customers recently asked us to produce some change of address cards. Rather than a mass-produced announcement of her new home she wanted something hand crafted and individual.

We looked through our collection of blocks and found one that seemed suitable - a Georgian door.

A notice of the house warming was printed separately, to be tucked inside each card, helping our customer give a stylish and unique introduction to her new home.

Libre Livre welcomes inquiries about our letterpress printing and bookbinding both of which can be personalized to our customer's individual needs.

2011-02-14T10:23:00.001-08:00

The LLL display cabinet in the Star Brewery, Lewes, provides a showcase for some of our products.

To see more why not visit our website

A BBC program to cherish

2011-02-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

A day or two ago the BBC broadcast a great program about the history of the Bible, focusing on two early and hugely important tomes; the Codex Sinaticus and the Winchester Bible. If you want to see the program click: BBC: History of the Bo ok but don't hang around the iPlayer only holds items for a few days

We have a Winner - just

2011-02-08T02:26:00.000-08:00

I am delighted to announce the winner of our New Year competition. The standard of entries was even higher than in previous months. Choosing a winner was not simple, but after much thought we decided that BS of the Valleys had squeaked home with this entry:

Togetherweareverycross

Well done, BS. Your prize is on its way.

Details of our next competition will be announced shortly.

Happy New Year

2011-02-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

Today is Chinese New Year - the year of the Rabbit

Here is a picture of some of our cards in our display cabinet outside our workshop in Lewes.

As you can see, Libre Livre wishes all our customers a Happy Chinese New Year, and a Happy Valentine's Day to follow

The Museum of Writing

2011-02-01T00:40:00.000-08:00

London University has recently acquired the artifacts of the Museum of Writing. Last night I attended a reception to mark the occasion. The intention is to make them publicly available via a 'virtual' museum, though as there are 15,000 items that may take a little time.

The museum covers the entire history of written communication, from ancient cuneiform clay tablets onwards. And what an astonishing history that has been, ranging through papyrus, parchment (animal skin), wax tablets, birch bark, paper and more recently electronic media. Writing implements have included wooden wedges, metal styli, pencils, dip pens, fountain pens, and biros to name a few. Browsing through that lot should be a treat.

The Libre Livre blog will give details of how to access the museum once it is up and running.

Saint Valentine's Day

2011-01-30T09:58:00.000-08:00

St Valentine's Day is not far away.

Libre Livre stocks a small range of exclusive hand- made Valentine's cards and other items calculated to make your heart pound, without emptying your purse..

The picture to the left (well, it was left when I typed it in, now it's above) shows some of our Valentine booklets - blank for your own thoughts, verses and desires. Contact us via our website for more details.

All Souls

2011-01-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I attended a talk in All Souls College, Oxford. What a splendid location and what an excellent talk. Dr Paul Nash, a letterpress printer, and resident printing expert at the Bodleian.

He explained how type is cast - and anybody interested may enjoy some brilliant videos on this subject. One on typecasting, produced by Stanley Nelson of the Nelson Atelier, can be found here , and another, showing Stan assembling a mould can be found here

In an interesting question session after the talk, the use of 5 point (yes, 5 point) type was discussed: and it was agreed that composing must have been a nightmare - Dr Nash suggested that tweezers provide the only practical method; and it seems, the value of the the paper being saved must have justified such agonising work.

Somebody raised the issue of hwo the early type-founders knew how many of each letter to cast into a fount: and made a comparison to the skills of a cryptographer in terms of analysing the frequency with which each letter is used. Of course, the numbers could just have been arrived at by trial and error.

Tea break

2011-01-24T02:07:00.001-08:00

At Libre Livre we work hard, play hard and enjoy our tea-breaks. One of our minor pleasures is the lunch time edition of the Archers, except now they've gone and ruined it.

Here's a blog that will tell you more about what's going on: Archers

Get weaving folks

2011-01-12T03:51:00.000-08:00

Just a quick reminder that our Seasonal competition, click Challenge if you need a reminder, is open until the end of January. We've had one or two brilliant entries already, but the prize is still anybody's, as yet.

Happy New Year

2011-01-06T04:11:00.000-08:00

Here we go: first blog entry of 2011.

Professor Michelle Brown is a paleographer and an expert in ancient manuscripts of the British Isles (called 'Insular' to those in the know). As such she is not necessarily somebody you would expect to find gracing the Economist magazine.

And how wrong you'd be: in the Christmas issue is a fascinating article discussing research by Michelle and others into the links between Celtic and Middle Eastern cultures in the early years of Christianity. The article discusses the wonderful library of St Catherine's monastery on mount Sinai, which houses a vast horde of ancient documents. Scientific advances mean that work can now be done on investigating the 'lost' documents that lie beneath later - it seems, it's not only computers that keep hidden records of what went before.

To my mind one of the most astonishing links between ancient cultures, is traces of papyrus that were found in an ancient psalter which had lain in an Irish bog for over 1,000 years.

Libre Livre Blog tries to keep our customers appraised (whoops, we appraise our staff and apprise our customers: drat that Titivillus) of news, views and clues from the world of books. It is updated regularly, so keep visiting to see the latest entries. And don't forget our current competition runs until the end of January, but be warned; it ain't as easy as it looks.

That's it for now, but best wishes for the New Year to all our customers, past present and future.

A challenge for the long nights

2010-12-22T01:15:00.001-08:00

It sometimes comes as surprise to students of books history to learn that many ancient scripts were written in scripta continua, that is with no gaps between the words. Even more surprising, it was the Irish who sorted out this minefield of potential misunderstanding sometime before the year 1000 ad, due, apparently, to their difficulties in deciphering Latin words with which they were not terribly familiar.

The possibility of misreading individual words and even sentences is apparent, although context presumably ironed out much of the confusion. We've been wracking our brains to come up with a few examples of sentences which could be read in more than one way, and it is not as easy as it seems. One fairly simple example is: menswearupstairs. The best we could do is:

whatbookstolendreadfully

So, this month's challenge to readers is to produce the longest, most ambiguous, sentence they can. There will be a small prize for the best entry received. We don't like to think of our customers slaving away over the festive season, so we've decided to extend the deadline from our usual one month to the end of January (by email, snail mail, or blog-comment). The winning sentence will, of course, be given on the blog in early February.

Good luck, and Happy Christmas to all our customers, past, present and future.

Comments welcomed

2010-12-04T01:44:00.000-08:00

Libre Livre always welcomes comments on our blog. Although it is easy enough to add them by using the 'comment' feature at the bottom of each post, some folk prefer to use email to let us know what they think.

Here, for example, is a comment we received recently:

Brilliant what a fantastic idea for a competition.

Both reviews really went to the nub of the issue: the way prizes were used both to motivate and influence behaviour. Come to think of it, a bit like bankers' bonuses.

I wonder if Mssrs Goodwin, Hornby et al might have benefited from such reading as 'For Honour Not Honours' by the great Gordon Stables.

And the winner is...

2010-12-03T03:05:00.000-08:00

A lot of readers found our November competition quite a challenge, but two who didn't were our joint winners: KS of the Highlands and, coincidently, BS of the Valleys who will each receive their share of the prize before too long, weather permitting. Here are their entries:

All modern girls will love 'Georgie Merton or Only a Girl' by Florence Harrington. Stout hearted and active, Georgie has all the qualities her weak younger brother so badly lacks. When her natural instincts to protect him lead to a long and confining illness, Georgie's patient and uncomplaining acceptance of her fate wins the hearts of all who know her. Georgie Merton shows that modern girls can live active and useful lives without compromising their essential femininity.

'Island of Secrets' by C Bernard Rutley was a Sunday School prize. Dawn finds a tramp lying in the road and helps him to hospital where he dies, bequeathing her a treasure map. X marks the spot on a Pacific island. 'Dawn couldn't miss a chance of adventure like this.'

Well done to you both, thanks for entering and good luck for December's challenge, which will be issued soon.

We all have gremlins

2010-12-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

Good-bye November, hello Winter. Snow everywhere, and expected to get worse. Still, it's an ill wind that blows no good, and our readers should find our December competition just the thing to pass the cold dark dreary hours - stand by, it will be announced shortly, along with the winner for November - which attracted some particularly high quality entries.

Meanwhile, I was rather tickled to discover recently that medieval scribes had a patron demon, Titivillus, who tricked them into making errors and omissions in their copies. I can personally vouch that he is still up to his games.

Here it is: the November challenge

2010-11-17T00:44:00.001-08:00

Lavinia Heggs, lucky thing, was awarded a prize by Ibstock Sunday school in 1905. She received 'Struggling upward: A tale of the goldfields' by S J Jones who, the title page informs me, had previously found a modicum of fame as author of 'Downward'. The measure of Lavinia's delight is not recorded, but the book remains remarkably pristine.

At Libre Livre one of our interests is in late nineteenth century prize books. These were churned out in their hundreds of thousands, doubtless all with the best intentions. Brave lads set sail for the colonies to make their fortunes, whilst their long suffering sisters were induced to works of piety and charity. Reviewers recorded their admiration in terms such as 'no manly boy could fail to be inspired by this tale of courage and adventure'; 'every girl will find pleasure in this quaint story of adversity overcome'. Echoes of a lost world.

This month we invite our readers to send us a review of a prize book, real or imaginary, in not more than 50 words. As usual, entries can be submitted by email, snail mail or blog-comment to reach us by 30 November. The lucky winner will receive a token of appreciation.

Prize giving

2010-11-14T06:52:00.001-08:00

As announced last week, the winner of our October competition was PR of Surbiton. We thought readers might be interested to see a picture of the prize giving at which lucky PR received her prize from our Head Marbler in person.

As you will see from the picture, a small crowd had assembled to watch the award, and doubtless many will be entering for the November competition - details of which will be announced in the next day or so. Anybody is free to enter. Entries can be made by blog comment, email or snail-mail, and once again Libre Livre will be offering a sumptuous prize. Watch out though - we expect some stiff competition - PR has already told us she will be throwing her hat into the ring.

The elephant

2010-11-10T04:38:00.000-08:00

I recently stumbled across some short clips on the subject of Medieval documents. A particularly interesting one is a short talk by Christopher De Hamel talking about some of the documents held in the Parker library. In the course of his talk, he shows 12th century pictures of an elephant included in a bestiary, although the artist had never actually seen one. This is contrasted by a picture by the famous medieval scribe Matthew Paris, of Saint Albans, just 100 years later. By that time an elephant had been brought to England and was kept at the Tower of London, although its life was short and uncomfortable. the contrast between the two images could hardly be greater. If you are interested in taking a look, click Here (but do make sure your volume setting is not too high before you click).

Antiquarian Bookfair

2010-11-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, whilst the HM was attending a conference on the writings of George Eliot, I dropped into the Antiquarian Bookfair in Chelsea town hall.

I had hardly been there five minutes when Ed C of Cambridge appeared loping over the horizon. After demolishing a couple of baked potatoes, we hit the stalls. And plenty of delights we found. There were around 70 stalls, from all over England and the Continent and some splendid tomes were on offer. I was taken with some small alum-tawed volumes from the early 16th century offered by a dealer from Berlin at a mere 600 euros or so. Ed found a copy of an interesting little limp binding, 'The Book of Trade Secrets, Receipts and Instructions for Renovation, Repairing, Improving and Preserving Old Books and Prints' - that recommended the use of cyanide of potassium for the removal of certain stains, which we both thought rather extreme.

I was rather taken by the Alembic Bibliography, which gives the early history of one of the finest private presses I have come across, and from whom we bought some of our letter-press equipment. Sadly, it was outside my budget, but it was very gratifying to know that David and Claire who ran the press started, as we did, using an Adana table-top press.

Another item of particular interest was a tiny volume, around 7mm square, which contained the Lord's Prayer printed in several languages, once on each page. The book - of which there were several copies on offer - was housed in a tiny clear box which served as a magnifying glass; so I can confirm that the pages were actually legible should anybody wish toread them. At £48 it too was over my budget for an item for which I could discern no conceivable use.

A grand old man

2010-11-03T02:09:00.000-07:00

One of the great men of British book conservation is Chris Clarkson, who trained under Roger Powell and the Cockerells (who are, incidently, the family who gave us the hovercraft).

Earlier this week I was delighted to be able to attend a talk by Chris on medieval book structures, a subject in which he is an acknowledged expert. One of the interesting things he told us was that the standard of Anglo-Saxon carpentry, was markedly higher than during the later Romanesque period. Early books were sewn onto cords and/or leather thongs and these were channeled through tunnels in the edges of the boards (generally of oak in England), which allowed the boards to fit snuggly around the pages and to open easily. These tunnels were cleanly cut and well fitted to the cords, which raises the question of how they were made. The short answer is, nobody knows. Chris suggested that they might have used twist drills, perhaps made by wrapping wire around a steel shaft and then sharpening it.

For anybody interested, click here for a link to Chris Clarkson's website

Congratulations to...

2010-11-02T02:01:00.000-07:00

We had a pleasing number of entries for our October competition. It obviously presented a quite a challenge, as, sadly, only around 30% of entries contained the correct solution: Tom, where John had had ‘had,’ had had ‘had had,’ ‘had had’ had had the examiner's approval.

As promised, the draw was made on 31 October, and I am delighted to announce that the winner is.....PR of Surbiton, whose prize is on its way.

We commiserate with those who didn't win this time, but cheer up; November's competition will be announced in the next few days.

And the winner is.....

2010-11-01T01:25:00.000-07:00

Wait for it, wait for it....

The winner of the Libre Livre October competition will be announced within the next couple of days.

An ode owed

2010-10-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

Another day, another missive from Doctor Doorknob of Chichester. He didn't say whether he wrote this poem himself or found it elsewhere on the internet, but anyway here it is:

There was an old man, a bookbinder
Who went out with a friend on a blinder.
She invited him in
For a night of pure sin,
But I'm glad to record he declined 'er.

Thanks, Doc. Thanks too to LM and M for their great blog-comments: keep 'em rolling girls.

Sneak preview and competition update

2010-10-25T01:17:00.001-07:00

As well as selling the fabulous marbled paper produced by 'Marbled Arts' of Florence, Libre Livre makes a small range of handmade cards.

The card shown here is from our new Seahorse range, which will be featured on our website in coming weeks, but is available now in packs of 4 for £10.

We have already received a number of entries for our Punctuation Competition, some right, some wrong and one or two downright wacky. There's still time to enter - the draw is not until 31 October. Entries can be submitted by email, snail mail or blog-comment.

Strange places, familiar faces

2010-10-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

London may be a big city, but although I don't venture up as often as I used to, it is surprising how often I bump into people I know. A day or two ago I spotted our correspondent, Ed C of Cambridge, and the HM partaking of a drop of "marbler's delight" in a wine-bar not far from Covent Garden. Naturally, I joined them, and before long the conversation had turned to...punctuation.

Ed, dab hand at letter writing as he is, is an efficient and enthusiastic exponent of the art. The HM and I do our best, but we do not always see comma-to-comma. I believe that the goal of punctuation is to improve 'readability'; which, incidentally, is not at all the same thing as legibility. The HM sometimes seems to think that the goal is to pack in as many commas as possible.

Years ago I came across a little brain-teaser on this subject which I am delighted to pass on: punctuate the following words to create a meaningful sentence: Tom where John had had had had had had had had had had had the examiner's approval. Any reader who can manage it, let me know and you will be entered into a prize draw (to be held on the date of our year end, 31 October).

If anybody can beat the above example for a sentence with the same word repeated consecutively (ie I am looking for runs of 12 or more) let me know, and a small reward might be winging its way.

That's it. Full stop.

Eastern European monasteries

2010-10-19T01:06:00.000-07:00

For those reader interested in Moldavian and Rumanian monasteries, here are some more pictures: Monasteries

Moldovian Illustrated Document

2010-10-19T00:24:00.000-07:00

I recently attended a fascinating talk by Dr Georgi Parlupov about the first (ever) illustrated book produced in Moldovia. Given the long history of insular illuminated works, it is notable that the book was produced is 1429; and equally remarkable that it is is now held by the Bodleian library in Oxford. Moldovia, one of the more obscure Eastern European countries, covered roughly territory now occupied by north east Rumania and present day Moldova, and had a complex linguistic history encompassing both latin and slavic tongues.

The gospel book was glossed, probably around the end of the 18th century, in Greek, and has a large colophon at the end of each gospel, from which the name of the scribe and the monastery at which he worked can be derived. Each gosepl starts with an illumination, tipped in, but painted on parchment of the same superb quality as the rest of the book. The frames of these illuminations may have been marked out by the same tool as used for marking the lines on the pages, as they appear almost embossed.

Sadly the book was re-bound in the nineteenth century, probably quite shortly after its arrival in Oxford.

click here to see some pictures of Moldovan monastries

Marbles

2010-10-14T02:43:00.001-07:00

Although Libre Livre is primarily focused on book arts, we simply could not resist adding the fabulous traditional marbles create by Marbled Arts of Florence to our range. Visit our website to find out more about these and our other products.

The shame of it

2010-10-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

At Libre Livre we try to develop the potential of all the team, and this weekend it was the Head Marbler's turn. A Conference on 19th Century psychology and aesthetics seemed just the thing. It grieves me to relate that when, after the first talk, the chairman asked for any questions the HM's hand went straight up: "what time's coffee?" she asked.

How crass you can you get: it's always 11 - 11.30, isn;t it?

A word in your ear

2010-10-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

Dr D Doorknob, of Chichester, has suggested a few 'amusing' anagrams for "marble":

Ambler
Ramble

and my own favourite:

Mr Able,

Thanks, Doc

L is for....

2010-10-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

Some folks have recently suggested to us that the Libre Livre logo looks rather like a 'Learner' sign, and added that maybe we should consider changing it. No way.

At Libre Livre we believe that we can always learn. We think our products are pretty good, and our customers tell us they think so too, but we continually strive to improve them.

Cuneiform and pens

2010-10-04T01:21:00.000-07:00

What is the connection between: Room 101, a pictogram of beer, Eadfrith of Lindisfarne and capillary motion?

Got it? They were all subjects discussed at a small conference organised this weekend by the Writing Equipment Society and held in Senate House (the original for Orwell's Ministry of Information in 1984 - and incidentally, intended by a certain Mr A Hitler for housing his secret police head-quarters once the invasion of England had been completed).

Dr Finkel, of the British Museum, lectured with gusto on the origins of cuneiform writing and what became of it. Apart from showing the derivation of some of the symbols from their origins as pictograms (for example, the pictogram of beer evolved to have an alternative meaning as 'its'), he outlined the grammar of the verb 'to fart' in cuneiform - used by at least one teacher to catch the attention of his class.

Professor Michelle Brown, whose energy is a fine match for Dr Finkel's, explained some of the intricacies of the Lindisfarne gospel, and why she is convinced that the book was produced by one man, the abbot Eadfrith, whose illness or death prevented its completion.

Two acts hard to follow, but Dr Geoff Roe managed it with a forensic explanation of the development of pens, fountain (whose flow relies on capillary motion) and biro during the 20th century. He finished with the cheering news that whilst sales of ball pens have in real terms struggled to hold their own in recent years, sales of fountain pens have been roughly constant over the same period.

Of pears and parking

2010-09-27T01:06:00.000-07:00

Before starting this week's entry, I would like to thank Mr Ed. C of Cambridge for his recent question concerning the Libre Livre team. No, Ed, the title 'Head Marbler' reflects her position in the company and is nothing to do with personal habits.

Now, on with the blog:

A few days ago the Head Marbler and I held an 'off-site' meeting in France. We took along with us Helen, a friend of a friend, who was headed for the same village. All went well until we came to leave. We'd filled the car, packed all our bags, bought a bottle or two of "marbler's delight" and were on the point of leaving when I closed the boot...and realised I'd locked the key inside.

The AA, bless them, refused to allow us to subscribe for European cover; the local garage said all its engineers were busy, and the Gendarmerie was closed for lunch. Of the village firemen there was no trace at all. Eventually the Gendarmerie re-opened and a tall policeman who looked about 14 gave me a withering look - there may have been a dash of pity in it, as both the HM and Helen were getting a bit excited by now - and rang another garage who said they would send somebody along shortly. We returned to take a coffee in the village square.

Sure enough, after half an hour or so an enormous lorry turned up, presumably loaded with ramps, and towing equipment etc fit for any emergency; except ours. The driver explained he needed more tools and would return shortly, by which time the entire village were on the alert.

Once back, in ways I should not divulge, the mechanic had the door catch up quite quickly, only to discover that the car's alarm system prevented it being unlocked without the key. The only solution was to break a window, haul out each bag in turn and search it for the key. This would have been fine and, in fact, did turn out successfully except that I had had the idea of collecting some windfall pears. As the bags were squeezed out the pears cascaded all around the car and rolled across the square before the astonished villagers.

Anyhow we found the keys and were off. At Calais, Helen said she needed to go and wash her hands. She left us in a queue of cars waiting for the ferry. I don't quite know how it happened, but as we turned around the let her back in all the other cars disappeared leaving us alone in a vast empty car park. A small white van scurried across and the driver conferred with the HM who announced that we had been selected for a 'thorough' customs check and should follow the van.

We drove slowly across the terminal until we came to a long line of vehicles - some of which I recognised as having once been ahead of us in our queue. The HM, however, was adamant: "follow that van". So I drove straight past the queue and drove on until eventually the van stopped outside a ferryman's cafe. The driver got out, looked at us with weary astonishment and beckoned us to resume our pursuit. Back across the terminal, back past the line of cars, until we finally drew up to the back of the queue where he waved us an exaggerated "good-bye"

"Leave me alone, both of you" cried Helen, rather hurtfully, once on board, as she headed for the duty free.

Friends old and new

2010-09-23T03:27:00.000-07:00

It is always a pleasure to meet up with an old friend, and last week the LLL team were delighted to meet Vanessa, who was one of my fellow students at West Dean, and her husband Daniel.

Vanessa has made good use of her training and now holds a position at one of the most prestigious US institutions, which sounds absolutely brilliant. Daniel, who must be the most well travelled person I've ever met, grew up in places where the maps don't go.

We had a pleasant evening walking around Lewes and eating at the Pelham Arms - a pub I can thoroughly recommend and rather more respectable than some of the local hostelries, though Daniel assured me I ain't seen a bawdy house yet - not this side of the Pond.

Now that summer is finally drawing to a close this blog will be updated once again on a regular basis. I intend to write it weekly, and though there may be a bit of slippage it shouldn't be for long.

Meanwhile, thanks to Daniel and Vanessa for a great evening.

Lecture at St Bride's

2010-02-24T00:47:00.001-08:00

Last night the Head Marbler and I attended a talk by Dr Claire Bolton at St Bride's Printing Library. the subject was the techniques used by early printing and raised, amongst other things, the possibility that early type may have been strung, or wired, together for printing. This would explain strange circular holes that have been found in several pieces of early type that are otherwise not easily accounted for.

It seems an interesting suggestion and I'm thinking of getting the Head Marbler cracking on drilling through our type collection (last estimate, well over 500,000 pieces - that should stop her getting bored!)

Paleography at King's

2010-02-11T02:04:00.001-08:00

So, the chair of Paleography at King's College London is to close, a victim of economic constraints. We think this is a disappointing decision, and if you agree, why not sign the petition to protest at it?

Obviously with the economy struggling cuts become necessary, but it seems disappointing and distasteful that those with heavy responsibility for getting the UK economy into its parlous state are doing so little to help. How about the 'Andy Hornby' Chair of Paleography, or the 'Fred Goodwin' Gallery of Manuscripts?

Christmas is for children

2009-12-10T11:34:00.000-08:00

One of the jobs that we at Libre Livre enjoy the most is binding stories written by children of our customers. Lively and imaginative, with spellings all their own, each story has a charm of its own. We transform them into single section bindings, with boards covered in vibrant Japanese paper - they make great presents for grandparents, not to mention heirlooms of the future.

Christmas is coming

2009-11-30T00:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas is upon us, and it is time to stock up on wrapping paper, mince pies and cards.

Libre Livre has a range of hand printed cards that are an ideal way to bypass the increasing standardization and commercialization of the season.

A salutary tale

2009-11-26T02:52:00.000-08:00

This week I have been grappling with IT problems - seemingly intractable at one point, which had an oddly simple solution.

I use the Ubuntu operating system, and this week I decided it was time to upgrade to the next distribution. without me realizing it, my broadband service was disrupted by the recent poor weather with the result that the upgrade files did not download correctly. The result was that the machine crashed every time I tried to boot up, giving just the mysterious comment that "Postfix" was being reloaded.

Matters got worse: although I could access the boot menu the upgrade would not load correctly from the CD I had made. The final course left open was to boot into recovery mode - for which I need to be able to access the "grub" menu. This menu is accessed by pressing Esc at an early stage as the machine starts up, but the pc would not recognize the Esc key and although I could access the BIOS it would not register any changes.

Stuck! ... after several hour of head scratching the solution turned out to be simply changing the BIOS battery (cost £2) lodged deep on the motherboard, a bit unnerving, but easy enough, and after that everything was downhill.

Traditional Clay Marbles

2009-11-17T10:53:00.001-08:00

Libre Livre has recently introduced a new product: hand decorated clay marbles made by Marbled Arts of Florence

To find out more about these fabulous antiques of the future, click Marbles

The Wedding Cake Church

2009-11-16T00:11:00.001-08:00

Not a great picture - my mobile phone is getting long in the tooth, but several people have asked me why St Brides is known as the wedding cake church - and, hopefully, this will show the tiers of the tower sufficiently to give the answer.

St Brides Printing Library

2009-11-13T00:09:00.000-08:00

Had a splendid day at St Brides. They have an exhibition hall which houses a good collection of antique printing presses, ranging from an original wooden frame, similar to the one(s) I imagine Gutenberg used, through examples of the Columbian, Albion and Stanhope. The library itself has an excellent selection of books on printing and related subjects, and a pleasant light airy and peaceful reading room.

Printing Library

2009-11-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

In the next few days I'm off to visit St Bride's Printing Library. This charming library - one of the few vestiges of the printing industry still located around Fleet St - is just behind the "wedding cake church", whose towers resembles, and by all accounts was the inspiration for, tiered wedding cakes. The workshop of Wynkyn de Worde, Gutenberg's first and greatest assistant, was just a few hundred yards away, so for letterpress folk this is hallowed ground. Let's hope a bit of the magic rubs off.

Display cabinet

2009-11-07T04:38:00.000-08:00

This week we put up a small display cabinet in the Star Brewery in which we will be showing some of the products featured on the Libre Livre website, letterpress cards, notebooks and some marbled paper.

New Website - done

2009-11-06T00:24:00.000-08:00

At last, I've completed the new version of the Libre Livre website. One new feature that I am particularly pleased with are the small icons that accompany opening pages on browser tabs and address bar. They are a great way of giving the site some identity.

My drop down menus and "action buttons" may seem a bit clunky, but I hope that they will be reasonably intuitive to use.

The main purpose of any website is to make the content accessible, and the Libre Livre content is very much focused on the fabulous Florentine marbled papers that we have started selling. Do take look: Florentine Papers

New Web Site

2009-11-03T00:39:00.001-08:00

One of reasons this blog has not been updated as regularly as it ought of late is that I have been working on a re-design of the Libre Livre website, to reflect our recent appointment as the official retailer of Marbled Arts of Florence.

The website is more or less completed now, and I am particularly pleased with the mini-icons which should show up in your address bar when you access it - or save it as a bookmark: not a bad idea for anybody who is interested in book arts, marbled paper etc.

I've stayed at home

2009-10-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have not been to Afghanistan recently; in fact I have never been there, although I did once get close, the top of the Khyber Pass. Be that as it may, I have certainly not seen service in the Afghan army. So when a friend sent me a picture he had found online showing "me" in uniform I was pretty sure he was joking, though I have to admit the likeness is not bad. Anybody interested is welcome to take a look and judge for themselves: Afghan Patrick

Resolutions and websites

2009-10-03T12:20:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I have been remiss of late in posting updates to this blog, but I am resolved to be better in future. Well, I'll try.

Last week I visited St Bride's Library, one of the few remaining landmarks of the Fleet St newspaper and printing industry. It is a splendid library, calm and peaceful, possessed of a thorough range of reading material, and with some printing presses to inspect to boot in the "exhibition area" in the basement. For anybody interested, here's the link: St Bride's

Meanwhile, we are working on an update of the Libre Livre website, intended to be released later this month. Amongst other things, it will include full details of the marbled papers from Marbled Arts - for which Libre Livre Ltd is now the (sole) UK retailer - but for anybody who can't wait feel free to contact us, just click here: Libre Livre

Marbled Paper from Libre Livre

2009-09-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

Some friends came round for supper last night, and we showed them the marbled paper that we bought in Italy. They thought it was fabulous, which it is.

Libre Livre is extremely proud to have been appointed as the exclusive retail outlet for marbled paper produced by Marbled Arts of Florence. To see some of the Marbled Art products and the techniques of paper marbling click: Marbled Arts

We're Back

2009-09-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

For those who had not noticed that the Libre Livre team was on its annual vacation I've got news for you - we're back.

We drove down to Florence over the Alps - crossing near Briancon, thought by some to be the route used by Hannibal, and came back more slowly through southern France. In Aix en Provence we stumbled by chance on a book fair - tremendous range of antiquarian books, though in my unschooled opinion prices were on the high side.

I was particularly pleased to find a letterpress printing business in full swing. Unfortunately the printers did not speak English and my Italian is confined to "amo te" and "grazzi, vino", neither of which seemed appropriate, but I can confidently report that they were using an Original Heidelberg - I will post some pictures in coming days on the Libre Livre Photo Gallery

My newly restored press

2009-08-22T12:20:00.001-07:00

Since my recent blog entries described my antique nipping press and its restoration I have been deluged with requests for a photo of it - well, OK, but I have had one or two.

So, for all those interested: Here it is

SOB Conference

2009-08-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

The Society of Bookbinders biannual Conference takes place this weekend, but we're not going - since I resigned as national Treasurer I have found rather limited appeal in Society events, and the prospect of the AGM fills me with.....yawn!

Problem solved

2009-08-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

In Lewes we are lucky enough to have a town blacksmith, and a splendid fellow he is. He has repaired my press, welded the wonky handle and got the sliding tray moving for the first time in goodness knows how many years. All this in just a week, and he carried it back and forth to his forge, for a modest sum.

Now all I've got to do is start using it....

The Hogarth Press

2009-08-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

One of our inspirations in setting up Libre Livre a couple of years ago was the development of the Hogarth Press by Leonard and Virgina Woolf. Like us they came to printing from a love of books, some experience of bookbinding and the desire to be creative. Unlike us their friends included T S Eliot, Katherine Mansfield and E M Forster, which helped; a bit.

Another difference is that the Woolf's bought their equipment new whereas much of ours came to us at second hand, or more. We too have spent hours sorting and organising type, not to mention de-rusting, dusting and oiling.

For those interested, an entertaining account of the early years of the Hogarth Press can be found here: Hogarth

A pressing problem

2009-08-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I bought, for a modest sum, and old iron blocking press of a design I have never seen before. There is a small removable iron frame which slots onto the bottom of the main screw, and can be lowered down onto the surface to be lettered, leather or whatever. Meanwhile, the surface itself is laid on an iron bed which slides across the base plate of the press to enable it it be located precisely. Or it would if it was not jammed solid.

Following my success with getting the stapler mended, this morning I had the blacksmith round to see whether he thought he could get it all freed up and moving again.

Turning to another subject, I was rather embarrassed this morning when walking round our local auction house. I was just drifting into a dream of bidding for, a splendid collection of wooden elephants when Julian, the auctioneer, shot out of his office and addressed me by name. It seems that I had bid, and bid successfully which is unusual for me, on a small pine set of drawers in an auction 3 or 4 weeks ago, and then forgotten all about it. I have to give him full marks for remembering, spotting me and putting two and two together, quick as a flash.

Make do and mend

2009-08-07T00:40:00.000-07:00

My saddle stapler is back already, mended. The cost was £12.95, a replacement would have been around £500. As mentioned in this blog a few days ago the manufacturer had told me that it was so old it was almost certainly beyond repair. Makes you think.

A warning

2009-08-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

We have, I'm not boasting, a stainless steel kettle. Made by Wesco it has a spun steel sheen attractive, I imagine, to those who like kettles. It does have the design flaw that the handle gets so hot you have to pick it up with a tea towel or suchlike wrapped around it, but that apart until yesterday I thought it was more or less functional. Now I am not so sure.

In making a cup of coffee for myself yesterday I tipped the offending kettle slightly higher than usual - there was still plenty of water inside - and the lid slipped out with the result that a scalding blast of steam went all over my fingers which are now red, blistered and very painful. Luckily I dropped the kettle onto the table, but if it had fallen to the floor things could have been much worse.

Accidents, and I've had plenty, happen when you least expect them, but fore-warned is fore-armed, be careful with Wesco kettles.

Hello hello hello

2009-08-05T01:08:00.001-07:00

Did you hear about the printer who never married, because he couldn't find a girl who was his type?

A late spring clean

2009-08-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

I have finally got around to trying out some electric goods I bought second-hand several years ago. The tooling stove (basically just a hot plate which heats up the bras tools used by bookbinders for gold tooling) worked fine, but my "saddle" stapler left much to be desired.

A saddle stapler for htose not in the know is a powerful stapler the bed of which can be otated so that books or pamhlets sit astride it, enabling the staales to be inserted true and straight. Well, hat is the theory, instead of banging the staples through with a great whoomph, my stapler launched into a noise like a machine gun and not astaple moved. Using my new Skype phone connection I rang the manufacturer, up in Yorkshire, who expressed astonishment that anybody was still using a machine so old, but then I remembered the old electrician who works round the corner from my workshop and took it in to him for a look-see. Now I'm waiting for the verdict, fingers crossed.

2009-08-04T07:22:00.001-07:00

Once more unto Oxford

2009-08-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

Libre Livre was in Oxford again this weekend, albeit briefly. Charming it wa not, hordes of tourists everywhere, traipsing along by the busload and generally getting in the way. Saturday had the additinal irrititations of intermittent heavy rain and students marchng round in mortar boards and gowns. Still, the second- hand bookshops are excellent, and I bought a pair of heavy duty leather boots in the sales - having dropped various bits of printing equipment on my feet over the years I have gradually learnt that sandals and printing do not go too well together.

We also thrilled to add to our collection of wood type, and to be introduced to the Journal of the Printing Historical Society, whose website can be found here: Printing Historical Society

Apprentice makes good

2009-07-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

Readers of this blog may remember that last summer we took on an apprentice, albeit fleetingly, Long Tom. He did well, showed promise, but decided to return to his studies. And this year he has proved that a wise decision by getting first class honours. Well done Long Tom from all at LLL.

I have just about finished sorting through the 22 trays of blocks I brought up from Dorset a couple of weeks ago - at the cost of the rear suspension in our car. It was a pretty unpleasant job, all the trays covered in dust and grease and the blocks themselves jumbled and muddled. Still, it is done now, trays cleaned and the blocks sorted by subject. Now the real work should begin....

Going off the rails

2009-07-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

At Libre Livre we are going off the rails. Or to be precise, we are getting more and more fed up with the poor service on Southern Rail, delays, cancellations and persistent failure to give passengers the information they need to plan their journeys during times of disruption. Other people must be getting fed up too, as on a train last week the ticket inspector was acccompanied by an armed policeman!

We firmly believe the responsibility for the service quality lies with management, and strange to say the contact details for the managers of Southern Rail are not that easy to come by. After some searching around, however, we did find the name and address of the Managing Director and here, as a service to our customers and others, it is:

Mr Chris Burchell,
MD, Southern Rail
Go-Ahead House,
26-28 Addiscombe Road,
Croydon CR9 5GA

tel 020 8929 8682
email chris.burchell@southernrailway.com

Cost Control

2009-07-23T01:13:00.000-07:00

Libre Livre being a small company we have a constant eye on costs. It is astonishing how small, seemingly trivial costs add up. Post and transport are a couple of examples, but communication is another. Telephone bills creep up insidiously, even for landlines. So by the time you have added in a few copper for the odd call to a mobile, a few more for line rental etc the monthly charge can often be quite substantial. We have recently been experimenting with Skype, a piece of software that requires no additonal line cost and where the cost of each call (calls between two pcs made from Skype to Skype are free, though calls to/from other 'phones are charged) can be seen deducted from the remainnig balance in your account. So far so good, but don't take our word for it, take a look for yourself: Skype

And when you've done it, if you do, don't forget to drop us a note of your contact details.

Cobblers

2009-07-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

A visit to my local shoe-mender has alerted me to the fact that cobblers use hammers more or less identical to the backing hammers so beloved of bookbinders. That is not to say they are necessarily any cheaper, but you never know what you may find.

Incidentally, on another topic altogether we at LLL have decided to boycott Boots, whose new chief exec is the boy blunder of British banking - he didn't know his limitations in that industry and we are far from convinced that he knows them in this. "Pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap" may work ok in supermarkets, but it is not the philosophy we fancy underlying the purveyors of our medicaments.

A word of caution

2009-07-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

I bought a new laptop last week from a local shop, small but apparently reputable. I don't consider myself a natural cynic, but in an idle moment I did check that the size of the RAM and the hard disc were in accordance with the specification. And though the RAM was ok, the hard disc was 40 gig smaller than it should have been. It's all sorted out now, but has left a nasty taste in my mouth. I'm just not sure; accident or design?

Down to Dorset

2009-07-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Just back from a trip to Dorset to collect some new type and blocks. East-west is not the easiest direction to travel in southern England and the journey took around 7 hours door to door to door, but it was worth it to get some fabulous blocks covering sports, vintage cars, cartoons, animals..... and as for the fonts...

Letterpress equipment is getting scare, and Livre Livre is always keen to expand our collection. If you have any, or hear of any , looking for a new owner please drop us a line - for contact details click here: Contact Libre Livre

(T)rain (t)rain go away....

2009-07-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

The LLL team were up in town yesterday, worse luck. The rain was torrential all evening, and by the time we came to catch our train down to Sussex the rail network had become one vast soggy mass of inertia. Victoria was chaos. The esteemed management of Southern rail had made available no information that passengers might want concerning such complex questions as when the next train to the coast might depart, and from which platform.

On our train, when we eventually caught it, we noticed the "managing director of Southern rail" - if ever there was a misnomer...- huddled in a corner.... working hard at his emails. Good for him, a lad who knows his priorities, not talking (God forbid I should suggest apologising) to his customers for their inconvenience, his lack of a half-way decent contingency plan etc, not ensuring that pertinent information was broadcast, but diligently working away at his emails. A veritable Churchill of our age: I don;t think

A Private View

2009-07-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend the head marbler and I visited a private view of the work of some local artists and printmakers at Pelham House hotel in the centre of Lewes. What an enjoyable evening. We met up with a number of old friends and binders from around Sussex and were particularly pleased to meet one of the artists, Charlotte Matthews, whose work is outstanding.

The theme of the exhibition, the prints of which have been bound together and are available as a book, is Tom Paine in Lewes. Charlotte's print is of the historic Market Tower, only a couple of hundred yards from our atelier.

Good-bye Website(s)

2009-06-29T04:02:00.000-07:00

I have just found out that during October Geocities on which our test-bed website Lyons La Foret, a small town in Normandy is hosted will be withdrawing its service. if anybody is intersted, now is the time to have a look.

At the same time the hosting of our other site Garden's of Sussex is looking increasingly problemmatic. The link works for the moment but....

Nothing in this world is constant, but it does seem disappointing that services we were happy to use and in which we invested our time should be withdrawn

Cambridge

2009-06-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Just back from a day in Cambridge where I visited three teams of crack conservators, based at the Colleges Conservation Consortium, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the University Library. All were very generous with their time. It was interesting to see the studios and the fabulous books on which the teams are working. Rather salutary to learn how much work is required to correct poor binding done in the past, some from as recently as the 1950s; books with spines so rigid they will scarcely open wide enough to slip in a finger, let alone read; edges ruthlessly trimmed and so on.

Learning to read

2009-06-16T01:24:00.000-07:00

Beautiful and evocative they may be, but old documents are often very difficult to read. Scripts have changed markedly over the years, from the clear elegant capitals of the Romans, to Carolingian miniscule, Blackletter, uncial and so on; eventually arriving at today's seemingly universal scrawl. On top of these changes, clerks used various abbreviations and short-hand forms and of course, many documents are written in medieval latin or french.

An excellent guide to reading such difficult documents is "The Handwriting of English Documents" by L.G. Hector

Old Friends

2009-06-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

Over the years the Libre Livre team has built up an amazing network of friends and advisers, and we are enormously grateful for all the help they have given us. We recently heard from one of our oldest letterpress friends, Sharon, who moved to California a couple of years ago where she is doing brilliant work - we hope to bring you details of Sharon's business, website etc in coming days.

It is sad to say that although so many have been helpful and constructive one or two folks of whom we had high expectations have proved disappointing and downright mean. One, for example, with whom we spent hours on the 'phone earlier this year helping sort out various problems has'nt bothered to drop so much as a "thank you". Let's hope their cheeks burn a moment if they read this - I know mine would.

Vandalism at LLL

2009-06-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend somebody smashed one of the windows in our workshop. Actually, they didn't just smash it, they must have belted it one, as broken glass stretched 10 feet across the carpet. (Incidentally, one of the first pieces of advice I was given when I started printing was always have a soft flooring in your workshop.)

We would like to record our thanks to Terry, the premises manager of the Star Brewery, who had already replaced the window before we ever saw the damage, then cleared away the shards of glass and re-frosted the new pane. All for a coffee - an interesting contrast to some others to whom we have done good turns in the past who've struggled - and failed - to send so much as a postcard in acknowledgment of our contribution. There are times when you learn who your friends are!

The Recession Approaches

2009-05-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

The Libre Livre workshop, freshly cleaned and tidied, is in Lewes, the county town of East Sussex. A little further up the line towards London lies the commuter town of Haywards Heath, where we happened to find ourselves last weekend. A salutary walk: we counted getting on for 20 empty shops, and there was office space galore available to let.

Workshop Tidy-up

2009-05-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

We've been doing a spring clean of our workshop over the last few days. Although we have only been there for a year it is surprising how much junk has built up - old corks, wooden spatulas and some rather oily spare parts for various presses. Still, its more or less done now and we are spruced up and ready for our next customers.

Letterpress Revival

2009-05-22T00:17:00.000-07:00

At Libre Livre we believe in supporting traditional crafts, not just out of sense of history, but because we think they set a standard that has never been matched - but don't just believe us, read this article in Forbes: Letterpress Revisited

Children's Books

2009-05-19T00:40:00.000-07:00

At Libre Livre we are passionate about books, buying them, borrowing them, making, holding & mending them; and above all, reading them. We believe that life without books would be much the poorer for it, and are shocked to read from time to time how many people do live virtually book free. A love of books cannot be started too young. A few of my early favourites were:

The Little Grey Men by BB
Jennings and Derbyshire by Anthony Buckeridge
Just William by Richmal Crompton
Five Children and It by E Nesbit
Biggles by Captain W E Johns
Billy Bunter by Frank Richards

before I moved on to Wodehouse, John Moore's Brensham trilogy, Kipling and so on.

But, that's nothing. A favourite posession of my 2 year old nephew was, long before he could read, "The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde"

On the Road

2009-05-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Libre Livre team hit Oxford this weekend. What a fabulous city. And what a wonderful literary heritage it has. Binding and printing have been carried out here for generations. At one stage Oxford was more or less the only city in the country, London apart, in which the mysteries of book arts were part of regular city life. Certainly some of the earliest printing houses in Europe were based here.

On Sunday we headed back Lewes-wards where we attended AS Byatt's talk at the Charleston Festival, an afternoon not to be missed. Her latest book is based around the production of Children's literature a topic which will be addressed more fully in this blog in coming days.

Spot the Head Marbler

2009-05-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

At Libre Livre we try and imbue our work with a spirit of fun, but our Head Marbler pushes it to the limit sometimes. This picture was taken on the way to a recent "board" meeting; wood'nt you know?

A Shadow World

2009-05-11T00:23:00.000-07:00

The problem of turning a 2 dimensional image into functional 3 dimensional form is in a way the essential challenge of bookbinding. Over the years it has generated myriad solutions, many of great artistry, ranging from scrolls, clay tablets and slivers of birch bark through limp vellum and gold tooled leather to mass produced "case bindings" and paperbacks. The variety of materials used has been enormous, all designed to protect the content of the written word, and in many cases to illustrate and illuminate. There is no perfect solution. Books do not last for ever, though many have survived hundreds of years in astonishing condition.

These days so much of the written word is in the form of computer file, or electronic mail. Well suited, perhaps better than the solid 3 dimensional book, for the purpose of preserving and allowing access to script. But how lamentably functional. It is hard to imagine a computer file viewed 1,000 years hence being seen as a beautiful cultural object.

A Test Site

2009-05-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

At Libre Livre we, not surprisingly with name like ours, adore France. Why not visit our test site at "A Small Town in Normandy" to see some images of this delightful part of northern France and to get an idea of how we can help you to market your image, personal or corporate.

Adana Leaflet

2009-05-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

Still on the subject of the Adana publicity leaflet referred to in yesterday's entry, another interesting item is the list of suggestions for suitable subjects ofr the "Five-three" press ("five-three" incidentally refers to the size of the chase in which the type is held for printing). Here goes:

Admission tickets, Business Headings, Club Cards, Greetings Cards, Invoices, Postcards, Private Notepaper, Visiting Cards, Wedding Stationery, Menus and "numerous other items".

At Libre Livre we welcome customer enquiries for any of these items, all of which we can produce in a wide range of colours and fonts.

Adana Presses

2009-05-06T00:32:00.000-07:00

At Libre Livre we have over 20 presses, many of them made by the Adana company, whose most popular models were the "Five-three" and the "Eight-five" - table top presses about the size of a sewing machine.

One of our equipment suppliers recently gave us an old brochure for these fabulous presses. It is not dated, but was almost certainly produced in the mid-1960s. At the back is a list of some of the organisations then using Adana machines including British Railways, Glaxo Ltd, Marks & Spencer Ltd, C.Nestle & Co Ltd, Royal Ordinance Factories and a number of universities; Bristol, Cambridge, durham, Glasgow, London and Oxford to name a few.

Seems like we are in good company.

Some Old Friends

2009-04-23T00:49:00.000-07:00

I went down to Chichester yesterday where I met up with a couple of old friends from West Dean. One has recently set himself up as a book and paper conservator specializing in 18th century maps, which he is repairing, flattening and colouring in. This contrasts to the philosophy at Libre Livre where we firmly believe in minimal intervention.

My other friend has recently come across some family papers dating from 1840 onwards which are in need of conservation, and de-acidification. "Of course" he said to me "they are of no value, but....". At Libre Livre, however, we recognise that all the documents we work on are of great value to our customers and their personal heritage.

Lets Preserve Conservation Resources

2009-04-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

So, the Textile Conservation Centre at Southampton University is to close. What a retrograde step - we deplore it. The Centre worked closely with West Dean College where I trained in book conservation sharing, for example, a course on the Conservation of Leather.

Conservation training is important for preserving our cultural legacy. Once an item has been ruined there is no way it can be replaced. What a tragedy that the country's resources are channeled towards paying sir Fred Goodwin's distended pension rather than training young people and giving them worthwhile careers.

A Busman's Holiday

2009-04-12T04:13:00.000-07:00

Anybody who thinks the Libre Livre team's idea of a good break is a few days with never a tome in sight could not be more wrong - we are almost always spend holidays checking out the local book shops, especially second-hand ones.

Yesterday I picked up a very interesting book "Leathe Dressing, Dyeing and Finishing" by D Woodroffe for less than the price of a pint of beer. It is a very thorough explanation of different tanning, and curing techniques and then outlines alternatives for dyeing and coating.

A particular favourite of mine is alum-tawed "leather" (strictly speaking one should speak of an alum-tawed skin as it does not undergo the tanning process needed for leather proper). This wonderful creamy hyde has a distinctive slghtly sharp smell which I find rather attractive, but more imprtantly it has wonderful supplety and resiliance. Books bound in alum-tawed skin as many were until around 1450 are often still in superlative condition showing no signs of cracking or broken joints so common in later bindings. It is not easy to get hold of, or cheap, but is still available and is used, amongst other purposes, for long lasting conservation bindings.

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to all our readers.

Lino Print

2009-04-04T10:41:00.001-07:00

At Libre Livre we are interested in all sorts of prints and print making. sorting through some old family papers recently I came across this picture, which I think is a lino print made by my mother, Pauline Colwell.

There were several other drawings and skethces she had made, which I will be uploading over future days.

I hope you enjoy them.

Living up to a Name

2009-03-26T01:15:00.000-07:00

It's an odd thing, but names can sometimes be appropriate beyond all imagining. Take for example, the greedy and incompetent erstwhile Chief Exec of RBS, currently grabbing his distended pension as hard as he can go. His name? "good win". Come to think of it, Royal Bank itself is another example; it's certainly in a right royal mess.

Be that as it might, our company name is Libre Livre, which is French - well, loosely. As a matter of fact, the name was chosen to indicate that our range of notebooks and albums have free, blank, open pages, so customers can use them however they choose.

Picking up on the French theme - and keen readers of this blog may have stumbled on our sister site "Lyons La Foret, A Small Town in Normandy" - we have decided it's high time to brush up our French. A charming lady is due to visit our workshop this morning for my first hour's lesson, must dash...

Au revoir

Printing Course

2009-03-04T05:39:00.000-08:00

As mentioned a few days ago, last weekend the Head Marbler and I both went on a printing course in Lewes. It was hard work. We carved our designs into sheet of plywood, inked up, set the press to get something like the right pressure and let it roll.

The results were not good, here is one of our better efforts:

Vellum

2009-02-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-24T13:16:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-23T11:20:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-20T23:40:00.000-08:00

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.