Don’t miss the third biennial CODEX International Book Fair and Symposium on the campus of University of California, Berkeley. A gathering of the world’s finest private presses, book artisans, artists, curators, collectors, and scholars. International in scope and possibly the largest gathering of its kind in the world. You’ll be amazed at what you see there. BookLab II will be there sharing a table with our good friend Gaylord Schanilec.

Special kudos to BookLab II client, Russell Maret, who designed the poster for this years event.

A catalog from the show Craig W. Jensen: Master of Fine Edition Binding is available for $25.00 plus $4.00 for handling and postage (Continental US).

The catalog has an introduction by Priscilla Spitler and a Preface by Craig Jensen and was designed by Brad Hutchinson and features a letterpress printed dust jacket also by Brad Hutchinson. The contents were digitally produced. Each item is described in detail and illustrated in color. 125 copies available.

Email or phone.

Craig W. Jensen: Master of Fine Edition Binding OPENING RECEPTION
June 24, 2010, 6:00 PM

The Museum of Printing History is pleased to present a retrospective of one of America’s most well-respected bookbinders, Texas-based Craig W. Jensen. Visitors will see complex binding innovations and historical structures produced by Jensen in the last 25 years for prestigious national and international clients such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and Yushodo Co. Ltd. of Tokyo. The show runs from June 24, 2010 – September 18, 2010. An illustrated catalog is available. More info about the show here.

Bound in two variant editions:
Standard edition: 36 cm x 25.6 cm x 1.9 cm
44 copies. Designed, composed, and printed letterpress by Russell Maret, text and images were printed on Hahnemühle Biblio paper from 163 plates in 105 colors using a hand-fed Vandercook Universal III proof press. Maret designed six typefaces specifically for this book. Bound in a sewn boards structure with alum-tawed goatskin spine and Twinrocker handmade paper sides. Housed in a brown Japanese cloth drop-spine box, with a recessed spine label gold stamped on alum-tawed goatskin.

Deluxe edition, a three volume boxed set containing:
Æthelwold Etc 36 cm x 25.6 cm x 1.9 cm
Æthelwold Etc Diary of Ink Colors… 36 cm x 25.6 cm x 1.3 cm
Æthelwold Etc Letters 36 cm x 25.6 cm x 1.9 cm
XI copies. Æthelwold Etc is identical to the standard edition. Æthelwold Etc Diary of Ink Colors… is bound as the standard and contains color swatches of the inks used to print the letter illustrations. Æthelwold Etc: Letters contains a suite of loose prints of the twenty-six letters in a portfolio designed to look like a sewn boards binding. All three volumes housed in a brown Japanese cloth drop-spine box with a gold stamped quarter tawed goatskin spine.

More about Russell Maret here.

32.1 cm x 19.7 cm x 1.4 cm
Edition of 300 copies; this one out of series. Designed and letterpress printed by Peter Rutledge Koch using photopolymer plates on Zerkal Büttenpapier. Green cloth quarter flatback case binding and Bugra paper on sides with printed wood engraving on front board. Custom made cloth endbands; printed paper label on spine. Books wrapped in tissue paper dust jacket printed with wooden engraving on front. Slipcase made by Jace Graf, Cloverleaf Studios.

Bound in two variant editions:
Standard edition: 30.5 cm x 20.6 cm x 3.5 cm
120 copies designed by Gaylord Schanilec. Text letterpress printed by Ben Verhoeven and Gaylord Schanilec on Zerkall 8888 paper with illustrations printed by reduction process engraving directly from the wood specimens; including two fold-out illustrations of the maple grove and a map of Farm 590 indicating where the wood was harvested, all engraved by Schanilec. Quarter tawed goatskin flatback lap-case binding with White Oak boards prepared by Dick Sorenson. Title gold stamped on spine. Housed in dark blue Japanese cloth slipcase, lined with black paper.

Deluxe edition: 39.7 cm x 26.7 cm x 6 cm
26 lettered copies; 6 “AP” copies. Text design and format of pages vary in this edition. Letterpress printed by Ben Verhoeven and Gaylord Schanilec on Twinrocker handmade paper. Images printed by reduction process engraving on a special making of Zerkall 7625. Bound in 16th century-style wooden boards binding. Sewn on five double flax cords that were laced into quarter sawn White Oak boards. Quarter covered in Cowley’s alum-tawed goatskin. Handsewn, stuck on, red and white linen headbands. Binding and tray containing wood specimens of each tree represented in the book are housed in a blue cloth drop-spine box with a double compartment.

27.3 cm x 19.7 cm x 2.2 cm
Number 26 of an edition of 150 copies. Designed, hand set, and letterpress printed by Robin Heyeck on Buckskin paper handmade by the Twinrocker Paper Mill. Marbled paper specimens made and tipped into text by Robin Heyeck. Sewn on a concertina support with additional stubs to accommodate marbled tip-ins. Bound in full marbled silk cloth in a rounded case binding. Custom made cloth endbands. Housed in rust cloth drop-spine box with inset on spine for printed label.

Though this binding appears simple, the execution was complicated due to the numerous marbled paper tip-ins. The marbled silk was hand lined with paper before binding.

37.7 cm x 25.6 cm x 1.9 cm
Number 47 of 96 copies: Numbers 1-12 hand painted by artist; numbers 13-96 colored by pochoir. Printed letterpress with photo engravings by Felicia Rice on Fabriano Artistico paper. Bound in an accordion fold structure, which extends 18 feet, in the style of the French livre d’artiste. Folded textblock sits in a paper cover wrapped in glassine and is housed in a lig-free, card slipcase and a Cotlin cloth drop-spine box.