Search results for ""PAPERBLANKS""

This red and gold Paperblanks Equinoxe Carmine journal reproduces a 1688 binding protecting L’office de la Semaine Sainte. The original binding was adorned “à la fanfare,” a handtooled pattern edged in gilt. “Fanfare,” which was a style popular in the seventeenth century, required tremendous skill on the part of the bookbinder and was reserved for books of great importance.

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Our Kikka soft cover notebook reproduces Michiko Kamee’s “full of chrysanthemum” design originally hand-painted with gold overglaze and colour on china by employing Kyo-Satsuma. In this Paperblanks Flexi cover design the viewer can see hints of the kaleidoscope of flowers in bloom, as well as fine boned artistry in every brush stroke and hue.

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In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust’s seven-volume masterpiece, is an examination of French society that almost completely lacks any sense of plot. Needless to say, it caused a sensation when the first volume was published in 1913. This Paperblanks journal cover shows a page from his lined notebook with his copious notes in the margins.

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This blue and gold Paperblanks Equinoxe Azure journal reproduces a 1688 binding protecting L’office de la Semaine Sainte. The original binding was adorned “à la fanfare,” a handtooled pattern edged in gilt. “Fanfare,” which was a style popular in the seventeenth century, required tremendous skill on the part of the bookbinder and was reserved for books of great importance.

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Bukhara, one of Uzbekistan’s largest cities, was the birthplace of this dazzling eighteenth-century Islamic binding. The city’s rich intellectual and cultural lifestyle was shaped by Indo-Persian influences, particularly the golden age of the Samanids. Paperblanks Bukhara Adina journal features heart-shaped leaves, a centre rosette and intricate corner pieces, all executed with skill and artistry.

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This red and gold Paperblanks Equinoxe Carmine journal reproduces a 1688 binding protecting L’office de la Semaine Sainte. The original binding was adorned “à la fanfare,” a handtooled pattern edged in gilt. “Fanfare,” which was a style popular in the seventeenth century, required tremendous skill on the part of the bookbinder and was reserved for books of great importance.

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Paperblanks Gold Inlay journal cover reproduces a “Stil der Neorenaissance” (neo-Renaissance style) design popular in 19th-century Germany. The original binding, composed of solid metal, was covered in a fine layer of gold which was then meticulously engraved by skilled craftsmen. Bindings like this were highly valued and were frequently adorned with silk, cloisonné enamels or precious stones.

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Combining the Latin words “filum” (thread) and “granum” (seed), silver “filigree” describes an art form that is achieved by first die cutting a base layer of silver sheets and then meticulously etching elaborate grooves into its surface. The polished binding seen on Paperblanks Silver Filigree Maya Blue journal is inspired by a 1697 French binding of Johann Arndt’s Paradiesgärtlein.

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The captivating image on the cover of this Paperblanks journal comes from the first edition of Scottish poet and anthropologist Andrew Lang’s The Violet Fairy Book. Compiled in 1901 by Lang and illustrated by Henry Justice Ford, the book was one in a 12-part series known as Lang’s Fairy Books, with each book named for the colour of its fairy.

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Laurel Burch was a self-taught artist and “flower child” whose work spoke from her heart with an unmistakable style that was the manifestation of her love of life and strong imaginative nature. Paperblanks Soul & Tears journal is based on one of Burch’s famous images, inspired by the verse, “The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.”

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William Morris (1834–1896), one of the most celebrated practitioners of the Arts and Crafts movement, created woven and printed textile designs using the ancient technique of hand woodblock printing. As seen on this Paperblanks Morris Windrush softcover Flexi notebook, his evocations of the natural world, with their depth of tone and magical gradation of tints, have become design classics.

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The image on the cover of Paperblanks Cabaret Cabaret journal was created in the 1930s by French illustrator and painter Gaston Girbal (1888–1978), best known for the posters he designed for Le Casino de Paris. While many of the costume and set designers who captured the look and feel of the Art Deco era remain unheralded, it is a testament to Girbal’s influence that his name is remembered.

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Published in 1969, Maya Angelou’s coming-of-age memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was an immediate national bestseller and a critical success. The book, the first in a series that chronicled her early life through the 1960s, helped to establish Angelou (1928–2014) as a major figure in American letters.On this manuscript page from the book, Angelou captures the moment when she and her brother, Bailey, arrived in Arkansas to be raised by their paternal grandmother and presages the personalities that she and Bailey would later develop. We are honoured to partner with The New York Public Library to bring this important document to our Paperblanks collection.

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Connect with the ornate Dutch world of yesteryear with this stately gold on black geometric design.Reproducing an expensive goatskin leather book binding crafted in Amsterdam in 1835 by Friedrich W.J.C. Kolb, our Onyx journal celebrates the harmony between art and science. The binding was originally designed to contain a Latin oration on the physiology of plants by the renowned Dutch botanist Willem Hendrik de Vriese (1806–1862). De Vriese was a member of the Royal Dutch Institute of Sciences, Literature and Fine Arts and, in his studies, named many species of plants in the Asterales order (Asterids).Science and art have long found a common ground in Dutch history, with artists from the Netherlands pioneering the form of still life, so there is little wonder why this significant binding can be found in the KB, National Library of the Netherlands. Founded in 1798, the library holds the intention to celebrate the written word and share Dutch creativity and innovation with the world. We are honoured to partner with the KB, National Library to bring this beautiful binding to the Paperblanks collection.

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For over a century, the Cockerell family name represented the highest quality bookmaking. Though no longer in business, the Cockerell and Son Bindery remains celebrated for their unique style of paper marbling, developed by the late Sydney (Sandy) M. Cockerell.Described as a “latter-day Leonardo,” Sandy Cockerell possessed not only an artist’s talents, but a scientist’s mind and engineer’s skill as well. He took the painstaking tradition of handmade marbled papers and found a way to produce the strikingly complex designs at high speeds and volumes. By improving existing equipment and creating his own gadgets and tools when that which he needed did not already exist, Cockerell embraced new mass production techniques.For his contributions to the paper arts, Sandy Cockerell was awarded an OBE and an honourary doctorate from Cambridge. When we launched Paperblanks journals in the early 1990s, a selection of his designs graced some of our first covers. We are honoured to return these iconic marbled papers to our collection with this black, white and red Rubedo design.

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Harmonious flowers, balanced colours and highly precise details create the eye-catching, high-impact effect of this Japanese kimono design.Originally designed as a costume for the theatrical style known as Noh, our Kara-ori pattern leaves little doubt why Noh is derived from the words for “skill” and “talent.” With silk and gold lacquered stripes, this is one of the best examples of Japanese textile design we have found. It comes from the Edo period (1615–1868) when Noh theatre, known for the sumptuousness of its costumes, was at its height.Noh theatre is one of the world’s oldest performing arts and has been handed down through generations of Japanese composers and performers. The plots draw from legend, history and contemporary events and are structured around song and dance. Though the thematic tone is often poetic yet monotonous, the costumes are anything but. In fact, Noh is often referred to as “mask drama” due to the importance placed on masks and costumes within the form.The term karaori, for which this design is named, refers specifically to the exquisitely embroidered traditional woman’s kimono like the one reproduced here. Karaori are regarded as some of the most beautiful theatrical costumes in the world, thanks in part to the Japanese aristocracy’s embrace of the theatre style – as both viewers and performers.Though Noh is a Japanese art, karaori means “Chinese weave,” as the fabric has its roots in China. And like the costume reproduced in our Peking Opera Embroidery series, this too would have been crafted for a male performer playing a female role. Both the material itself and the pattern shown would have helped tell the story of the character. In this case, the stiff brocade technique created a thick, glossed fabric that would not drape easily – this was used to create an angular effect evoking the spirit of a noblewoman. The flowering grasses depicted served to emphasize the woman’s femininity.By the Meiji period (1868–1912) Noh had reached such heights that it was introduced overseas, influencing artists far and wide. William Butler Yeats, for example, wrote an essay on Noh in 1916 that he titled “Certain Noble Plays of Japan.” And even more contemporarily, David Byrne of the Talking Heads discovered Noh while touring Japan and, according to American music critic Josh Kun, was inspired by the highly stylized, stiff costumes to “design the oversize business suit that became a visual staple of Talking Heads live shows.”Today there are more than 70 Noh theatres throughout Japan and it has been deigned an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. This beautiful example of karaori costuming can be found at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the Otto C. Deering gift. It is our great pleasure to work with such a gorgeous and culturally important piece of history to craft this Paperblanks design.

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French artist Claude Monet (1840–1926) was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement. Monet was particularly fascinated with portraying the beauty of nature as the light, shadows and colours changed with each passing moment, day or season. The 1897 painting reproduced on our cover portrays a vibrant bed of colourful chrysanthemums captured in Monet’s distinctive heavy brushstrokes, which beautifully highlight the magnificence of nature.

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William Morris (1834–1896), one of the most celebrated practitioners of the Arts and Crafts Movement, created woven and printed textile designs using the ancient technique of hand woodblock printing. As seen on this pencil case, his evocations of the natural world have become design classics.

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This 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. With its scope from humour to tragedy and its vivid narrative structure, The Decameron – his defining work – remains an affirmation of humanity and moral values even when read today.

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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.

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A brilliant 16th-century Cairo workshop is responsible for this journal cover design. Though the name of that atelier has been lost to history, the detailed pattern and fine materials used show why books from the workshop were so highly prized. Today the original binding can be found in the collection of the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, Germany.

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The classic look of a leather steamer trunk is captured in this pen loop design, crafted to complement and enhance any book cover.

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The eternal appeal of a classic floral design is captured in the work of Irish illustrator William Kilburn (1745–1818). With winding twigs and colourful petals set against an inky black background, this Floralia pencil case design is emblematic of Kilburn’s ability to blend local and exotic flora into a harmonious pattern.

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Among the finest poets America has ever produced, Emily Dickinson lived a life of quiet solitude. A master of the short lyric poem, her eccentric preoccupation with death and immortality permeated many of her greatest works. It is Dickinson’s handwritten draft of “I died for beauty – but was scarce” that we have reproduced for this journal cover.

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Nobility and grace are restored in this filigreed design. Originally crafted in 1675 by the Queens’ Binder “A,” the balance of open space and intricate elements make it a shining jewel of the period. The binding reproduced for our Restoration pencil case was designed to hold Richard Allestree’s The Government of the Tongue.

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Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, physicist, futurist and engineer. This Flexi softcover notebook features a sketch of his turbine research, reproducing a document held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade. Today, Tesla’s legacy endures mostly notably in Tesla, Inc., which specializes in electric vehicles, solar panels and lithium-ion batteries.

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Olena Skytsiuk is one of the foremost practitioners of Ukrainian Petrykivka painting, a technique in which brushes crafted from cat hairs are used to create a visual effect unlike any other. In each design, like that reproduced on this Dayspring journal cover, thousands of small brush strokes combine to create miniature landscapes and floral scenes.

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In this Polished Pearl journal cover, inspired by an exquisite example of luxury fabric, one sees the absolute perfection of tone, magnificent embroidery and subtly beautiful hues that for which French artisans have become so celebrated. This fine French design has a timeless look of haute couture elegance.

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More sumptuous than even the finest arrangement, our Van Huysum pencil case is based on a painting by Jan van Huysum. A seduction of the eye and a jolt of passion for the soul, this still life is anything but static. The sturdy design always holds its shape, and the lid flap can fold around to create an open presentation case to showcase the items within.

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Inside the original 1910 version of this sumptuous binding laid one of the oldest and most effortlessly romantic stories ever written. The gilt and crushed blue levant morocco binding by Émile-Philippe Mercier contained Jacques Amyot’s French translation of the tale Daphnis and Chloe. The original story was composed by the second-century Greek author Longus, a little-known writer assumed to have been a freedman of a Roman family. Daphnis and Chloe were the fictional lovers against whom all others can be measured. Their story was the inspiration for one of contemporary cinema’s most beloved films, The Princess Bride. Daphnis and Chloe were naïve lovers separated by pirate abductions and battles aplenty. But love prevails and in the end they are restored to pastoral, wedded bliss.  

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Displaying astounding plays of naturalistic illusionism, the luxurious book known as the Spinola Hours is one of the most visually sophisticated 16th-century Flemish manuscripts. A book of hours contains a calendar of Church holidays, the Hours of the Virgin, the Office for the Dead, and other prayers, hymns and readings. The Spinola Hours also includes weekday offices and masses, providing even more possibilities for rich illuminations. The book was commissioned for a wealthy patron, perhaps Margaret of Austria, and in the 1700s it belonged to the Spinola family, for whom it is now named. We are honoured to reproduce this unparalleled example of illumination from the J. Paul Getty Museum.

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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. A tribute to the infinite bliss of flowers, this Wild Flowers design symbolizes the blossoming of the spirit as much as the beauty of a lovely garden. With this motif, Laurel’s hope was to speak in the universal language of symbols that touch us all, and her flowers certainly have the ultimate ability to do just that. With a bursting of brilliant wildflower blooms, Laurel’s florals are a never-ending source of happy inspiration and joy.  

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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.

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In his Spring painting (1894), Lawrence Alma-Tadema represented the Victorian custom of children collecting flowers on May Day. By placing the scene in ancient Rome, he suggested the festival’s history through architecture, dress, sculpture and instruments. Alma-Tadema incorporated his knowledge of antiquity into over 300 paintings. We are honoured to feature a detail from Spring as part of our collaborative The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection.  

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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.  

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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

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Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) was a French painter who is regarded as one of the greatest of the post-Impressionists. Often called the “Father of Modern Art,” his works and ideas were influential in the aesthetic development of many 20th-century artists and art movements. Reproduced here is a work from his later years, Terracotta Pots and Flowers (1891–1892), which saw Cézanne enter a new world of still life painting. This change in pace exemplified his desire for a new form of personal expression as he sought to slow down and draw focus back to the everyday. Terracotta Pots and Flowers showcases Cézanne’s intense study of still life compositions. His works such as this one explored the connections and harmonies between everyday objects. Here he arranges a red cloth, a rum bottle with straw binding and a light blue pitcher with potted geraniums inside the greenhouse at his father’s estate near Aix-en-Provence. We are honoured to featu

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Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) was a French painter who is regarded as one of the greatest of the post-Impressionists. Often called the “Father of Modern Art,” his works and ideas were influential in the aesthetic development of many 20th-century artists and art movements. Reproduced here is a work from his later years, Terracotta Pots and Flowers (1891–1892), which saw Cézanne enter a new world of still life painting. This change in pace exemplified his desire for a new form of personal expression as he sought to slow down and draw focus back to the everyday. Terracotta Pots and Flowers showcases Cézanne’s intense study of still life compositions. His works such as this one explored the connections and harmonies between everyday objects. Here he arranges a red cloth, a rum bottle with straw binding and a light blue pitcher with potted geraniums inside the greenhouse at his father’s estate near Aix-en-Provence. We are honoured to featu

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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

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Get ready to follow your creative train of thought with Pacifica! Reproducing a gold stamped, dark brown leather binding designed by Alice Cordelia Morse, Pacifica represents a spirit of grand adventure. The original binding was crafted to hold William Seward Webb’s California and Alaska and Over the Canadian Pacific Railway, a well-regarded travelogue first published in 1890. This exquisite edition was produced as a deluxe gift book and was limited to only 500 copies. The copy reproduced here is now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library in New York City. As an artist, Morse maintained the belief that the book designer must take the central idea of the book and creatively depict it on the cover. For this binding, one can imagine her creating train tracks crisscrossing a map, or perhaps even the spokes of a compass, in the gold stamping she patterned. Travel is said to broaden the mind, so it is our hope that our Iron Horse design will inspire your creativity and exp

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Get ready to follow your creative train of thought with Pacifica! Reproducing a gold stamped, dark brown leather binding designed by Alice Cordelia Morse, Pacifica represents a spirit of grand adventure. The original binding was crafted to hold William Seward Webb’s California and Alaska and Over the Canadian Pacific Railway, a well-regarded travelogue first published in 1890. This exquisite edition was produced as a deluxe gift book and was limited to only 500 copies. The copy reproduced here is now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library in New York City. As an artist, Morse maintained the belief that the book designer must take the central idea of the book and creatively depict it on the cover. For this binding, one can imagine her creating train tracks crisscrossing a map, or perhaps even the spokes of a compass, in the gold stamping she patterned. Travel is said to broaden the mind, so it is our hope that our Iron Horse design will inspire your creativity and expressi

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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.

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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.Grayson is an artist who defies the limitations of genre. May his boundless creativity so inspire your own expressions of imagination.

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This cover is inspired by an original design attributed to Le Gascon, a legendary but little-known 17thcentury 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.If this cover was not created by Le Gascon, it is certainly in his style and was made by another French master. Le Gascon–style bindings first appeared near the end of the reign of Charles IX and were revered for the sophistication and intricacy of their ornamentation. Le Gascon’s fanfare bindings featured gilt decoration that spread out in repeated fanfare patterns, as well as pointillé tooling bordered by bands.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.

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Let a swirl of turquoise inspire you to write your chronicles. This cover is based on the binding for a book titled Chroniques, published by Salel Binder in Paris in 1514. The exuberance of the design reflects the splendour of the Renaissance approach to decoration. In this green-blue journal cover you may see the intricacies of your own stories.

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This captivating image comes from Andrew Lang’s The Olive Fairy Book. Compiled in 1907 by the Scottish poet and anthropologist Andrew Lang, illustrated by Henry Justice Ford and published under the editorial direction of Lang’s wife, Leonora Alleyne, the book was one in a twelve-part series known as Lang’s Fairy Books (or Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books of Many Colours). Each book in the series was named for the colour of its fairy, and this Olive Fairy notebook reproduces the front cover of that book’s first edition. Upon publication, the books were a sensation among British schoolchildren and were sold all around the world. May the Olive Fairy bring a hint of vintage whimsy to your writings.

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Michelangelo Buonarroti’s (1475–1564) mind was an incessant battlefield. The opposing forces of religious faith and pagan beauty warred across his consciousness. They also helped spur him to create a pantheon of artistic masterpieces.Considered one of the masters of the Italian Renaissance, over the course of his lifetime he produced the finest frescoes and many of the most revered sculptures in the world. Michelangelo possessed a genius as severe and uncompromising as it was fertile. He was renowned for his fierce solitude, yet was one of the great chroniclers of the human form. His anatomical studies are haunting in their expressiveness and precision, while his tombs, such as those designed for Julius II and the Medicis, inspire wordless awe and perhaps even dread.This letter, written in Michelangelo’s own hand, demonstrates with every stroke of the pen the refinement and passion of one of the greatest artists humanity has produced. And with the Sistine Chapel’s The Creation of Adam featured on the back cover, the point of creation beautifully bookends this Embellished Manuscript notebook.

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Azulejos (meaning “small polished stone”) are painted, glazed ceramic tiles that date back to 13th-century Portugal where they were used inside buildings during the Gothic period. 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.There are countless wonderful examples of these beautiful tiles all across Portugal. The design seen here is pulled from the traditional tiles gracing the façades of a variety of old houses in Porto. Ornate in detail, these tiles do not just serve as decoration but represent an important part of Portuguese culture and tradition. Held within are stories of their country and its past.

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