Search results for ""paperblanks""

French artist Claude Monet, one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, was particularly fascinated with capturing the transient beauty of nature. In a virtuoso display of flowers, this 1897 work portrays a vibrant bed of chrysanthemums from his prized garden in Giverny.

Read more less

The Adventures of Asterix, our series in partnership with Les Éditions Albert René, channels the spirit of Asterix the Gaul from the celebrated comic book series. In these stories, Asterix, along with his friend Obelix and canine companion Dogmatix, ventures to lands near and far with unwavering ingenuity and just a little bit of magic potion.

Read more less

Laurel Burch was a self-taught artist who created brilliantly coloured, vibrant and moving themes with paint and paper, exquisitely embellished with gold and silver. Her celestial theme has evolved over the years in a brilliant colour palette emblazoned with shimmering details of silver and gold, including rainbow-hued fish and sprays of colourful flowers cavorting with her suns, moons and stars.

Read more less

The 1688 edition of L’office de la Semaine Sainte, a Latin liturgical book, was protected by a gold-plated leather binding. Reproduced here with a vibrant blue background, the antique design features an elaborate gilt-edged tendril motif.

Read more less

Aurelia’s inspiration dates back to Paris in the 1700s. The original binding housed copies of King Louis XV’s procedures for Holy Week. This design is a marvellous riot of gold-tooled rococo elements, featuring birds, flowers and leaves.

Read more less

Featuring a German pattern dating to 1568, this design suggests an ornately engraved door or magical gateway. With an emphasis on exuberant gold decoration, the motif is emblematic of the era’s artistic expressiveness.

Read more less

Using authentic Japanese washi tape paper, metallic foiling and a touch of varnish for protection, our Portuguese Tiles washi tape set will bring a pop of colour to your bullet journal spread. This double-pack is inspired by traditional Portuguese tiles.

Read more less

For the celestially minded and lovers of dark light, we present Nova Stella. This book cover, with its central star shape, exerts an emotional pull like the North Star for nighttime wayfarers.Our Nova Stella cover comes from the 1789 binding of Missale Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum, printed during the Settecento period by Octavio Puccinelli publishers. During this time bookbinding became at once simpler and yet more complex. The sewing was done on recessed cords to give the spines a smooth appearance and so, while the structure of books was uncomplicated, decoration became increasingly elaborate.The free space around the central object is as important as the ornamentation that surrounds it, just as deep space is part of what makes stars so inspiring. Here we see brocade with floral and heart shapes, gilt-edged broad string iron lines, single punch gilding and a cross with flowers and initials.

Read more less

These intricate details of spring and summer flowers are from an 18th-century Japanese paper screen by artist Watanabe Shiko. Rinpa is a leading historical school of Japanese painting, established in 17th-century Kyoto, whose artists were known for working in a range of formats, notably screens, fans, hanging scrolls and kimono textiles. The design on our cover shows a section of a screen with various types of blooms often believed to follow the ancient Japanese language of flowers.

Read more less

Described as the “mise en scène for the romantic drama of American business,” New York City’s Chanin Building was built by Irwin S. Chanin in the late 1920s. Ornately adorned with bronze grilles representing some of the finest Art Deco in the city, the lobby was styled around a “City of Opportunity” concept. One of these ventilator grilles, with loops, spirals and geometric lines symbolizing human thought and emotion, is reproduced here.

Read more less

Authentic Japanese washi tape paper featuring Metalic foil to enhance the Oceanie & Viola patterns

Read more less

Azulejos are painted, glazed ceramic tiles that date back to 13th-century Portugal. Today, we see these decorative tiles across a wide range of buildings, from monasteries, palaces and restaurants to bars, railway stations and family homes. The design on the tiles commonly related to the building’s unique history, and the individual pieces often end up forming an elaborate mosaic. The design seen here is pulled from the traditional tiles gracing the façades of a variety of old houses in Porto, Portugal.

Read more less

This striking Art Deco design comes from the celebrated British bookbinder Sybil Pye (1879–1959). It was crafted to hold a collection of William Wordsworth’s poems illustrated by Pye’s lifelong friend Thomas Sturge Moore. One of the youngest pre–First World War women binders, Pye was the only binder in England who specialized in inlaid leather bindings. With this series, we pay tribute to a pioneering woman in the art of book design.

Read more less

Discover Gary Grayson’s vibrantly detailed gardens in this Tropical Garden pencil case. A lifelong artist, Grayson’s affinity for both antique prints and modern graphic design is on display in this design. Grayson is an artist who defies the limitations of genre. May his boundless creativity so inspire your own expressions of imagination.

Read more less

For over a century, the Cockerell and Son Bindery represented a tradition of the highest quality bookmaking. The Bindery remains especially celebrated for their unique style of paper marbling, developed by the late Sydney (Sandy) M. Cockerell. He took the painstaking tradition of handmade marbled papers and found a way to produce the strikingly complex designs at high speeds and volumes. We are honoured to bring one of his iconic marbled papers to our collection.

Read more less

Treasures of The New York Public LibraryVirginia Woolf’s NotebooksA modernist and feminist pioneer, Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) carved out new territory for artists, particularly women writers. She wrote with sensitivity and insight about the confusion, mystery and uncertainty of everyday life. Woolf’s 1931 novel The Waves, originally drafted in a series of seven notebooks including those reproduced here, is among her best and most experimental works and is made up of soliloquies spoken by the six main characters. Today, these seven notebooks are a part of The New York Public Library’s Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature and are featured in the new Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library Treasures. We are honoured to partner with the Library to bring Woolf’s The Waves notebooks to our collection.

Read more less

This glorious design comes from Sangorski & Sutfcliffe, a world-renowned British bindery best known for their bejewelled cover of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. They were especially celebrated for their jewelled bindings, like the one reproduced here. Originally crafted in 1922 to house Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 “Recessional” poem written for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, it incorporated real turquoise, aquamarine and ruby gemstones.

Read more less

Capturing the flavour of Renaissance-style binding at its zenith, this darkly toned book cover carefully reproduces delicate stamping patterns on an intensely rich background that showcases the markings and unique character of aged leather bindings.

Read more less

Tiptoe through the tulips with us as we discover Gary Grayson’s vibrantly detailed gardens. A lifelong artist, Grayson’s affinity for both antique prints and modern graphic design is on display in the digital artworks behind this cover. His distinctive style is an eclectic mix of vintage vector, impressionism and pop art – all combined to create a layered world. May his boundless creativity so inspire your own imagination.

Read more less

Showcasing silk dyed with beni (the pigment extracted from safflower petals) and lacquered in gold, this kimono design dates to the Edo period (1615–1868), when it was used as a costume for the theatrical style known as Noh. Karaori refers specifically to the exquisitely embroidered woman’s kimono that traditional Noh theatre was known for. Both the material itself and the pattern depicted would have helped tell the story of the character.

Read more less

H.G. Wells was a science fiction pioneer whose visions for our future have greatly impacted our modern world. His first novel, The Time Machine (1895), was an instant success, as were those that followed. As a celebration of Wells’ life and legacy, we are honoured to reproduce his handwritten The Time Machine manuscript for this Special Edition document folder.

Read more less

Our Dumas’ 150th Anniversary Special Edition document folder celebrates the great lion of French literature, Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870). It features a handwritten draft of The Count of Monte Cristo as well as Dumas’ signature. Over his career Dumas wrote nearly one hundred thousand pages and is today among the world’s most widely read authors.

Read more less

India’s Taj Mahal is one of the world’s greatest monuments to love. Our Shah cover is named for the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who commissioned the grand mausoleum to house the tomb of his most favoured wife, Mumtaz Mahal. This journal cover reproduces a photograph by Gérard Degeorge of one of the Taj Mahal’s iconic marble flowers.

Read more less

Tiptoe through the tulips with us as we discover Gary Grayson’s vibrantly detailed world in this Butterfly Garden journal cover. Grayson’s distinctive style is an eclectic mix of vintage vector, impressionism and pop art – all combined in rich layers. May his boundless creativity so inspire your own imagination.

Read more less

Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s dystopian piece of science fiction, introduced terms such as “Big Brother” and “thoughtcrime” into our social lexicon and is still widely read today. Only one handwritten copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four survives, and we are honoured to partner with Brown University to reproduce it on this journal cover.

Read more less

Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s dystopian piece of science fiction, introduced terms such as “Big Brother” and “thoughtcrime” into our social lexicon and is still widely read today. Only one handwritten copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four survives, and we are honoured to partner with Brown University to reproduce it on this journal cover.

Read more less

Picnics, summer holidays and lashings of ginger beer… it’s hard not to picture the stories of Enid Blyton when thinking of these nostalgic moments. A prolific writer, Blyton penned over 700 books and thousands of short stories that captured an idyllic childhood full of adventure in the countryside. A common theme in Blyton’s writing is the atmospheric representation of life in a rural landscape. Though her works spanned multiple genres, it was stories that focused on family that were her favourite to write. One of Blyton’s most popular works was The Famous Five, a series of children’s adventure stories that centre around a group of four cousins – Julian, Dick, Anne and George – and George’s dog, Timmy. Reproduced here are the illustrations from the covers of two books in the series, Five on a Treasure Island and Five on Finniston Farm. These classic images are the works of Eileen Soper, whose illustrations bring the wonderfully nostalgic

Read more less

This fiery Baroque-inspired cover comes from a 1725 binding of The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio, a masterpiece of Italian literature. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) was an Italian writer and poet who helped lay the foundations of Renaissance humanism. His defining work, The Decameron, is a collection of novellas, each narrated by one of ten main characters who find shelter from the Black Death in a secluded villa just outside Florence in 1348. With its scope from humour to tragedy and its vivid narrative structure, The Decameron remains an affirmation of humanity and moral values even when read today.  

Read more less

Showcasing silk dyed with beni (the pigment extracted from safflower petals) and lacquered in gold, this kimono design dates to the Edo period (1615–1868). It was originally used as a costume for the theatrical style known as Noh. Karaori refers specifically to the exquisitely embroidered woman’s kimono that traditional Noh theatre was known for. Both the material itself and the pattern depicted would have helped tell the story of the character. In this case, the stiff brocade creates a thick, glossed fabric that would not drape easily – this created an angular effect evoking the spirit of a noblewoman. The pattern of flowering grasses emphasized the character’s femininity. By the Meiji period (1868–1912) Noh had reached such heights that it was widely introduced overseas, and today there are still more than 70 Noh theatres throughout Japan. This beautiful example of karaori costuming can now be found at the Art Institute of Chicago. It is our great pleasu

Read more less

With its intricate flying buttresses and ornate religious sculptures, the Duomo di Milano represents the pinnacle of Italian Gothic architecture. The drawing recreated here is part of a series proposed by the architect Paolo Cesa Bianchi (1840–1920) for the decoration of the interior vaults of the Milan Cathedral. In the 19th century there were many architects, each with their own unique vision, who submitted design proposals such as this. The submission by Bianchi, crafted in 1881, centres around the use of arabesques, which create a sense of a faux relief arborescence over a golden background. The design proposals of these architects, carefully preserved in the Archive of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, allow us to discover an unprecedented Cathedral, the one imagined by architects of the past and then, for various reasons, never built. We are honoured to partner with Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano to bring this example of sublime architectural vision to new

Read more less

In his Spring painting (1894), Lawrence Alma-Tadema represented the Victorian custom of sending children to collect flowers on the morning of May 1, or May Day. By placing the scene in ancient Rome, he suggested the festival’s great antiquity through architectural details, dress, sculpture and musical instruments based on Roman originals. Alma-Tadema’s curiosity about the ancient world was insatiable, and he incorporated his knowledge into over 300 paintings of ancient archaeological and architectural design. In later years, his large panoramic depictions of Greek and Roman life caught the attention of Hollywood. The set design of certain scenes in Cecil B. DeMille’s film Cleopatra (1934) was inspired by this painting. We are honoured to feature a detail from Spring as part of our collaborative The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection.  

Read more less

This design pays tribute to an 18th-century binding that housed the Khamsa, a seminal work by Persian Sunni Muslim poet Nizami Ganjavi (c. 1141–1209). Featuring intricate floral detail, our Layla cover design beautifully mirrors the contents of the original volume. Considered the greatest romantic poet in Persian literature and described as a “creator of poetic scenes,” Nizami brought a colloquial and otherworldly quality to the Persian epic. His best-known work, the Khamsa (also known in English as the Five Treasures), is a series of five long narrative poems. The first of these, Makhzan-ol-Asrâr, was influenced by Sanai Ghaznavi’s The Walled Garden of Truth, an early Sufi book of mystical poetry. The four other poems are medieval romances. His tragic story of star-crossed lovers Layla and Majnun has famously inspired many contemporary artists with its theme of unrequited love. The delicately adorned cover of this Layla journal, the second title in our Pe

Read more less

Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), a Spanish architect from Catalonia, was one of the greatest pioneers of 19th-century architecture. Gaudí’s works have a highly individualized style, defined by his unique compositions, organic shapes and kaleidoscopic designs. They transcend not only mainstream Modernism, but traditional art forms. Perhaps Gaudí’s most-loved contribution to his city of Barcelona is Park Güell, a vibrant garden filled with his art. Reproduced here is a section of a mosaic sun on the ceiling of the park’s Hypostyle Room, alongside the abstract lines from his chimney pots at the Casa Milà building. Gaudí’s last work of civic architecture, Casa Milà (also known as La Pedrera) represented a break with the conventions of his day, designed as a totally undulating building with a beating heart like a living being. Gaudí’s fascination with the geometry of nature stemmed from his deep religious dev

Read more less

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were pioneers in the field of folklore, collecting stories through Germany’s rich oral tradition in order to preserve a history that might otherwise have been lost forever. In doing so, they popularized some of today’s most enduring fairy tales. “The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry” was the first tale in the 1812 edition of Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen). It tells the story of a spoiled princess who reluctantly befriends a frog who, unbeknownst to her, is actually a prince under a sorcerer’s spell. In the original tale, the curse is lifted when the princess throws the frog against a brick wall in anger, but in later years the Brothers Grimm sanitized the story, turning it into the tale we know today. The Grimms’ impact was so profound that it is hard to imagine a world without these stories as they continue to be passed down through generations. We are honoured to reproduce this manuscript from the Bodmer

Read more less

New York City is home to an endless number of famed landmarks and tourist attractions, including the eye-catching skyscrapers that punctuate the city skyline.Described in an original brochure as the “mise en scène for the romantic drama of American business,” one such tower is the Chanin Building. This midtown Manhattan landmark was built by developer Irwin S. Chanin in the late 1920s and its magnificent lobby is a major draw for architecture aficionados. Ornately adorned with bronze grilles representing some of the finest Art Deco in the city, the lobby was modernly styled around a “City of Opportunity” concept. One of these ventilator grilles, with loops, spirals and geometric lines symbolizing human thought and emotion, is reproduced here.The Chanin Building’s exuberant craftsmanship led it to be designated a city landmark in 1978 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Its uniquely New York City take on the Art Deco style is just one of many reasons to pay attention to the architectural achievements lining the city’s streets.

Read more less

Let a swirl of turquoise amid gilt embellishment inspire you to write your chronicles. This cover design is based on a binding originally published by Salel Binder in Paris in 1514. The tome, Chroniques, was created at a time when books were evolving and binders were using smaller formats that were easier to bind. Pasteboards replaced wood covers and gold tooling grew in popularity.The exuberance of the Chroniques design reflects the sheer splendour of the Renaissance approach to decoration that influenced architecture, art and all facets of cultural life. In the glittering green-blue of this cover you may well see the intricacies of your own stories or the infinite possibilities of the written word. At minimum, we hope that Turquoise Chronicles will make you think of Paris, which has for centuries been a centre for art and publishing and a beacon of culture.

Read more less

More sumptuous than even the finest arrangement, our Van Huysum journal cover is based on a painting by Jan van Huysum (1682–1749). Van Huysum is perhaps the greatest master of that most revered subject in the Dutch artistic canon: the flower. A seduction of the eye and a jolt of passion for the soul, this still life is anything but static.

Read more less

Unheralded wildflowers and weeds are given a voice in our Vox Botanica series, featuring the work of celebrated Art Nouveau illustrator Anton Seder.Seder (1850–1916) was a designer, art professor and eventual Director of the noted Kunstgewerbeschule (Arts and Crafts School) in Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine. With the region at that time hotly contested by both France and Germany, the art scene that arose offered a unique marriage of cultures. Influences from both countries, along with Victorian, Baroque and even Japanese woodblock elements, can thus be seen in Seder’s work.This particular piece, originally chromolithograph on paper, comes from one of his best-known works, Die Pflanze in Kunst und Gewerbe, or The Plant in Art and Trade. Published in Vienna in 1890, it offers two volumes of stunning prints gracefully depicting elements of nature. Seder’s harmonious use of space, plethora of details and candid depiction of natural elements drew us to this piece. With this series, we herald Seder’s unique voice and vision for his plants in a new era of art and trade.

Read more less

Unheralded wildflowers and weeds are given a voice in our Vox Botanica series, featuring the work of celebrated Art Nouveau illustrator Anton Seder (1850–1916).This particular piece, originally chromolithograph on paper, comes from one of his best-known works, Die Pflanze in Kunst und Gewerbe, or The Plant in Art and Trade. Published in Vienna in 1890, it offers two volumes of stunning prints gracefully depicting elements of nature. Seder’s harmonious use of space, plethora of details and candid depiction of natural elements drew us to this piece. With this series, we herald Seder’s unique voice and vision for his plants in a new era of art and trade.

Read more less

This stately gold-tooled design comes from a unique 1990s binding crafted by book conservator Scott Husby, who pulled together fragments from the early 1800s to create a beautiful new cover for this copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio. Originally published in 1623 in London and containing 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (known as the First Folio) is one of the most influential books ever published. It is the only reliable text for nearly 20 of Shakespeare’s plays, 18 of which had previously never been printed, including The Tempest and Twelfth Night.Today, there are only 235 surviving copies, from approximately 750 printed. Due to its influence and scarcity, the First Folio is one of the most valuable printed books in the world, with one being sold at auction in 2001 for over $6 million. The Folger Shakespeare Library itself holds 82 copies of the First Folio in their collection. We are honoured to introduce this beautiful and unique binding as our first reproduction from the Library’s unparalleled collection.

Read more less

William Morris (1834–1896) was one of the most celebrated practitioners of the Arts and Crafts movement. In creating woven and printed textile patterns Morris chose to work with the ancient technique of hand woodblock printing, finding inspiration for his famous repeating patterns in the natural world around him: “millefleurs” tapestries and early prints of herbs as well as the crispness and abundance of exquisite detail in medieval art. His evocations of antique florals and plants in all their profusion, depth of tone and magical gradation of tints have become design classics gracing the decorative arts, including our book cover.

Read more less

This striking Art Deco design comes from the British bookbinder Sybil Pye (1879–1959), heralded as one of the top female artisans of her time.Self-taught, Pye began producing her first works in the early 1900s using naturally coloured leather, before graduating to multi-coloured panels. By 1934 she was creating complex covers of up to six different inlays, and her work was regularly exhibited throughout England and around the world.This particular design was crafted to hold a collection of William Wordsworth’s poems illustrated by Pye’s lifelong friend Thomas Sturge Moore. Though we can’t be sure that Pye intended to evoke the image of a lion’s majestic head with this cover, the possibility offers an interesting connection between the binding and its original contents, as one of Wordsworth’s poems is titled “Picture of Daniel in the Lions’ Den, at Hamilton Place.”One of the youngest pre–First World War women binders, Pye was the only binder in England who specialized in inlaid leather bindings. With this series, we pay tribute to a pioneering woman in the art of book design.

Read more less

Unheralded wildflowers and weeds are given a voice in our Vox Botanica series, featuring the work of celebrated Art Nouveau illustrator Anton Seder.Seder (1850–1916) was a designer, art professor and eventual Director of the noted Kunstgewerbeschule (Arts and Crafts School) in Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine. With the region at that time hotly contested by both France and Germany, the art scene that arose offered a unique marriage of cultures. Influences from both countries, along with Victorian, Baroque and even Japanese woodblock elements, can thus be seen in Seder’s work.This particular piece, originally chromolithograph on paper, comes from one of his best-known works, Die Pflanze in Kunst und Gewerbe, or The Plant in Art and Trade. Published in Vienna in 1890, it offers two volumes of stunning prints gracefully depicting elements of nature. Seder’s harmonious use of space, plethora of details and candid depiction of natural elements drew us to this piece. With this series, we herald Seder’s unique voice and vision for his plants in a new era of art and trade.

Read more less

This glorious design comes from Sangorski & Sutcliffe, a world-renowned British bindery best known for their bejewelled cover of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat.Established in London in 1901, Sangorski & Sutcliffe quickly rose to become one of the 20th century’s most important bookbinders. They were celebrated for their jewelled bindings, like the one reproduced here. Crafted in 1922 to house Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 “Recessional” poem, written for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the original binding incorporated real turquoise, aquamarine and ruby gemstones, alongside medieval-style illumination by Alberto Sangorski and gold tooling by George Sutcliffe.In the late 1980s, Sangorski & Sutcliffe was acquired by Asprey, joining forces with Zaehnsdorf under the SSZ umbrella. But the family name was restored in 1998 when Shepherds Bookbinders bought the company. It is an honour to work with such a luxurious bookbinding and to share the legacy of Sangorski & Sutcliffe with 21st-century stationery lovers and bibliophiles.

Read more less

A man as tormented as he was beloved, Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) overcame a life of extraordinary ups and downs to become a world-renowned playwright, author and poet. He stands as one of the most influential writers of the Victorian era.Wilde’s work is fraught with the insights of a man who possessed a deep understanding of both the positives and perils of society. Criticized for what was perceived as an “effeminate nature” and oppressed by a largely homophobic world, Wilde remained resilient. He used his experiences to form brilliant, if controversial, literary works.The comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, a draft of which is reproduced here, was a great success upon opening but saw its run cut short when Wilde was imprisoned for “gross indecency.” This represented one of the first famous celebrity trials but was, sadly, only one of many persecutions of a member of the LGBTQ community for a consensual act. We first released this Embellished Manuscript in 2010, and this season we bring it back in celebration of Wilde’s literary legacy and personal perseverance.

Read more less

Our Enigma journal is inspired by a cover said to have been designed by Le Gascon, a legendary but little-known 17th-century bookbinder. Le Gascon was the inventor of the "pointillé" and "fanfare" styles, and his influence is felt throughout the rich bookbinding history that follows him.The original cover was made of red morocco leather embossed and gilded with rosettes, spirals and dotted lines. It also featured Le Gascon’s emblematic small compartments which were created by carving ridges into the leather. No matter who created the original binding, our cover pays homage to its consummate artistry and visionary design.

Read more less

Tiptoe through the tulips with us as we discover the vibrantly detailed gardens of Gary Grayson’s artistic world.A lifelong artist, Grayson’s affinity for both antique prints and modern graphic design is on display in the digital artworks behind our Nature Montages series. His distinctive style is an eclectic mix of vintage vector, impressionism and pop art – all combined to create a layered and vibrant world. Here, butterflies and birds invite you to explore the garden together, and the bursting blooms bring promises of warm summer days.A native of Arlington, Texas, Grayson takes inspiration from a wide variety of sources. A fan of everything from Puccini to NASCAR, he is an artist who defies the limitations of genre. May his boundless creativity so inspire your own expressions of imagination.

Read more less