The Collected Tales of Gogol
The Collected Tales of Gogol by Nikolai Gogol Illustrated by Peter Suart
Translated by Constance Garnett
Folio Society 2010
Bound 2010
Folio Society Prize for the Set Book - 1st Prize.
The Mansfield Medal for the Best Book in the Annual Designer Bookbinders' Competition.
Sold. Private Collection.
TECHNIQUE
Unsupported link stitch with a Fraynot hinge attachment. Full alum tawed goatskin with recessed front and back boards. Inlayed into the boards; an old enamelled watch face, cogs and semi-precious stones. Foil tooling. Black Chieftan goat feathered onlays. Silk sewn headbands. Acrylic washed edges with foil tooling. Leather jointed endpapers and edge-to-edge doublures. The paper has been printed and foil tooled.
DESIGN
“Oh, do not believe this Nevsky Prospect! ……Everything is deception, everything is a dream, everything is not what it seems to be.”
This quote kick started the inspiration for this binding, it opened the door to anything goes.
I used the underlying theme of time, which is peppered throughout the tale, interwoven with finery, opulence, beauty and wonder.
I relied on the fragility of the Alum tawed goat’s surface: creases, imperfections and purity to amplify the rhinestone’s sparkle. To create a starkness and delicate beauty at the same time.
