Search results for ""paperblanks""

Photographer Gérard Degeorge has travelled the world, capturing grand pieces of architectural design through the scope of his lens. This cover design comes from his vast collection of photography and is reminiscent of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. The geometric pattern, floral design and arabesque setting are all suggestive of the art and architecture styles found in the western Islamic world.

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Virginia Woolf wrote with insight about the uncertainty of everyday life. Her novel The Waves, drafted in a series of notebooks including the one reproduced here, is made up of soliloquies spoken by the main characters. Today, the 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 Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures.

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A lifelong artist, Gary Grayson’s affinity for both antique prints and modern graphic design is on display in the digital artwork behind this cover. His distinctive style is an eclectic mix of vintage vector, impressionism and pop art.

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This lovely, organic pattern comes from the illustrious carpet-making traditions of the Moldavian people. By mixing ideals of beauty and harmony with folk mysticism and mythology, Moldavian craftspeople elevate everyday carpets to works of spiritual and cultural expression. This particular design comes from a contemporary rug manufacturer, Floare Carpet, who design their floor coverings in the traditional ways.

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This Madame Butterfly Dot-Grid Planner will help you achieve your goals and develop your creative ideas in style. Featuring a customizable index, page numbers, three ribbon markers, design stencil and, of course, a dot-grid interior, this Paperblanks Flexis softcover journal will inspire you to harness the organizational power of bullet journalling.

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Paperblanks Nocturnelle Flexi softcover notebook, a reproduction of an antique French binding, is based on a cover designed in 1829 by publishers A. & W. Galignani for The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. This notebook cover suggests the fine Moroccan leather, structural sturdiness, careful finishing and ridged spine preferred for bindings of that era.

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Venice enchants the eye from first light to last gloaming. We have captured some of the splendid palette of the city with this Paperblanks journal cover inspired by a 1600s Italian binding. Our Celeste design embraces the Renaissance value of cultural rebirth by representing an ancient book binding with contemporary bookmaking techniques.

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Here is journal cover art that shows just how profound charm can be. Featuring the work of Canadian artist Tracy Walker, this Paperblanks Baby Elephant book design combines a folk-art naiveté with a timeless mid-century feel, as well as wondrous detail that is sure to elicit smiles upon closer inspection.

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Laurel Burch was a self-taught artist with an unmistakable style that was the manifestation of her love of life. From her fertile imagination, she created brilliantly coloured, vibrant and moving themes with paint and paper. An example of her exquisitely embellished art can be seen on the cover of this Paperblanks Hummingbird journal.

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Introducing Paperblanks Flexis, a sophisticated new line of softcover notebooks. Crafted with a flexible cover material, these lightweight notebooks offer increased mobility for everyday use. Their durable, Smyth sewn spines allow the books to lie completely flat while also providing the flexibility to open 360°, connecting cover to cover for a stable writing surface on the go. These stripped-down versions of some of our bestselling Paperblanks designs give an elemental sense of warmth and tactility. We are also offering two titles with a Kraft paper cover, creating a natural and organic texture that is unique to our Flexis. These are the ultimate notebooks for writers and sketchers with somewhere to go: they are portable and lightweight enough to tuck into any bag, and with two different page count options you can choose the thickness that best suits your lifestyle. Enjoy the freedom that comes with flexibility!

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In the “Maki-e” tradition, lacquerware is created by painting tree sap onto treasured objects and sprinkling them with metallic powder, such as gold, silver or copper, to create luxurious designs. Showcasing dramatic black and gold vines, this Paperblanks Karakusa journal features the image of an antique 19th-century Japanese lacquer box selected from a private collection in Kyoto.

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Our Kikka journal reproduces Michiko Kamee’s “full of chrysanthemum” design originally hand-painted with gold overglaze and colour on china by employing the “Kyo-Satsuma” technique. In this Paperblanks book 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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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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The design reproduced on this Paperblanks Flexis Poetry in Bloom soft cover notebook, originally crafted by Riviere and Son, centres around a sensitive plant surrounded by other richly hued flowers, foliage and butterflies. The binding was used for The Sensitive Plant and Early Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley and is a celebration of the creative spirit.

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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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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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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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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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Capturing the flavour of finely wrought Renaissance-style leather books, this Paperblanks Black Moroccan pencil case pays homage to the craft of delicate gold tooling, originally brought to Europe via the flourishing trade routes to the East. 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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Laurel Burch was a self-taught artist and “flower child” who sold handmade jewellery on the streets of San Francisco in the 1960s and continued to rely on her intuition and passion to create vibrant images of whimsy and allure with paint and paper. Brilliantly coloured and exquisitely embellished in blues and purples, one such creation is portrayed on Paperblanks Blue Cats & Butterflies journal.

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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. Today the manuscript is held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a part of The New York Public Library.With connections to activist, literary and expat communities in the United States and Ghana, Angelou’s work encapsulates the Schomburg Center’s strongest holdings – stories of the struggles, triumphs and fortitude in the everyday vicissitudes of Black life. We are honoured to partner with The New York Public Library to bring this fascinating document to our 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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Legend has it that hanging a Bird of Happiness in one’s home will bring good health and fortune to all who live under its warm embrace. Artist Nadezhda Sokolova, also known as Nadya Sokolova, has taken inspiration from this classic tale of Russian folklore with this Firebird design. Using her unique style of batik painting on silk, Sokolova captures the warmth and optimism of these “wood chip birds.”

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Nobility and grace are restored in our filigreed Pinnacle 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 was created to hold The Government of the Tongue by Richard Allestree, provost of Eton College.

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The eternal appeal of a floral design is captured in the work of Irish illustrator William Kilburn. The artist behind William Curtis’ book on botany, Flora Londinensis, Kilburn was also a designer and printer of calico. His seaweed motifs, like our Anemone journal design, were so iconic that he presented a dress in the pattern to Queen Charlotte!

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Laurel Burch was a self-taught artist and “?ower child” who created brilliantly coloured, vibrant and moving themes with paint and paper, all exquisitely embellished with gold and silver. On our Maria and Mares journal, Maria – one of Laurel’s closest friends – is depicted with a pair of mystical horses.

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Our Arabic Artistry cover design dates to the 17th century, when luxurious Arabic court life helped to inspire a supremely refined design aesthetic. The original binding our Zahra Flexi softcover notebook reproduces is emblematic of an era when books were major investments, used as valuable donations, treasured gifts to heads of state and status symbols.

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Our Dumas’ 150th Anniversary Special Edition pencil case 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.

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Our Blue Velvet journal design is inspired by a piece of a 15th-century velvet dalmatic. It is decorated in brocaded gilt metal thread with a seven-lobed shield, an artichoke-like botanical shape and tiny floral patterns. Creating a velvet design such as this would have been a painstaking procedure, making this a luxury fabric during the Renaissance.

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Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, physicist, futurist and engineer. This journal 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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Our Kuro journal cover showcases a reproduction of an original piece of katagami art. It reproduces a stencil crafted from mulberry bark and persimmon juice. Such stencils are found throughout Japanese culture. The word Kuro means “dark” or “black” in Japanese and it’s the perfect title for this hauntingly shadowed design.

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Taking their slightly sullen cues from previous artistic movements, the New Romantics of the 1980s brought their hairstyles and attitudes to new prominence. Our Velvet Cape journal celebrates the drama that made the New Romantic movement some of the most ironic good times popular culture has ever had.

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Guiseppe Verdi’s (1813–1901) instincts for finding the right material led him to create works that virtually define the general public’s understanding of opera, such as Aida and Rigoletto. Featured on our Verdi, Carteggio journal cover is an excerpt from his correspondence. May his legacy inspire your own hand.

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The Safavid Dynasty is often considered to represent the Islamic Golden Age, with its artists and creative methods still celebrated today. This Safavid Indigo pencil case incorporates the symmetry and filigree designs that are the hallmarks of this binding tradition.

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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

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Ignite your creativity with fiery Fiammetta. This sensuous 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. There are tales of witty practical jokes, lustful romantic entanglements and tragic, real-life consequences. 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. This 18th-century binding of The Decameron is now held at the Musée Condé in Chantilly, France. With golden flowers and arabesques bursting forth from a rich, red background, our Fiammetta design, named for one

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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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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.  

Read more less

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.  

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

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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

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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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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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. Morse held 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.  

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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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