The deFINEd Bindings installation at Chronicle Books in San Francisco, Feb. 23–29, 2012. The three bindings on the tallest pedestals won (from left) second place, George Sargent; first place, Patty Bruce; and third place, Deborah Howe.

The three jurors who narrowed the field to 26 were: John Carrera, the creator of Pictorial Webster’s; Amanda Nelsen, book artist/binder and the program director of Rare Book School in Virginia; and Karen Hanmer, book artist/binder and head juror. Chronicle Books, publishers of the PWD, then judged the 26, selecting first-, second- and third-place bindings. Last month, the books were on display for one week at Chronicle Books, where I got to see them in person — and discovered the accompanying catalog. It’s available on Blurb.com, and it’s superb.

Tony Rinaldo, who shot all photos in the catalog, photographed the actual catalog for us, capturing its, well, bookness. Book artist George Sargent won second place.

The display copy of the catalog enabled me, right there and then, to appreciate details of the bindings that I couldn’t see for myself. (The books were open to the air, but visitors were asked to resist the temptation to touch.) Elles Gianocostas designed the catalog, and Tony Rinaldo photographed the books. Guild member Lori Foley (a 1995 graduate of the bookbinding program at Boston’s North Bennet Street School) coordinated production, including editing the text submitted by each book artist; she suggested that the catalog be published by Blurb (which her son had used for his senior art show in college). Gianocostas, Rinaldo and Foley had worked together on an earlier catalog for the New England chapter of GBW.

Each spread includes a large image of the binding, plus a close-up. Designer Elles Gianocostas’ grid accommodates narratives of various lengths and detail photos of varying perspectives.

Lori Foley answers my question about this ambitious collaborative labor of love: “The executive committee of our chapter decided to create a catalog because the exhibition was timed to coincide with the 30th Seminar on Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding, the annual meeting of the national GBW, which was held in Boston Oct. 6–8, 2011. The timing provided an opportunity for a large segment of the GBW to see the actual bindings on display at the Bromfield Gallery in Boston. The catalog serves as a meaningful historic record and, we hope, expands the potential audience beyond those who saw the exhibition in person. We had a modest budget for producing it, which went to the designer and the photographer. Using Blurb enabled us to keep production costs way down.”

Patty Bruce’s binding won first place in the competition.

The detail shot allows you to peek inside the box and see the decorated fore-edges. Rinaldo comments on his photographs: “I love figuring out the best surfaces and how to light them, to show what’s important about each structure.”

Partial view of installation along the side wall in the lobby shop at Chronicle Books

Back at Chronicle Books: Just inside the door, I see the front of Andrew Thompson’s binding, and I love it. It’s like peeking into a wunderkammer. Then I realize the design continues onto the spine and across the back cover. I laugh out loud. Is the dodo declining to be a curiosity?

The catalog showcases Thompson’s intricate “endpapers,” which aren’t paper at all. I mentally rename this Andy Baba’s Treasure Cave.

Tony Rinaldo shows us the fore-edge (the mermaid is painted in acrylic) and the leather interior with inlaid hand-painted vellum.

Stephanie Wolff’s binding catches my eye with its bright red cover. As I get close, I see the huge A on the cover and, at the same moment, the black ampersand on the spine. I check out the back cover: a corresponding Z. The A and the Z are cut out, with vintage imagery showing through. It’s understated yet clever, clean and modern, and perfectly evocative of the contents. Don’t I wish this were a notebook or a portfolio? Thanks to the detail photo in the catalog, I get to see the endpapers.

Sonya Sheats’ open-joint binding received a prize from North Bennet Street School for Best Binding Structure.

The spine is water snakeskin; the book boards are covered on all sides and edges in walnut veneer; the raised decor is stained walnut; and, yes, Sonya Sheats also built the box that houses her book.

Abigail Jones’ binding catches my eye. The design is simple, and the birds make me smile. I wonder if they take flight inside.

Abracadabra! No birds, but the wrapped edge on the inside back cover is a glorious detail. The marbled endpapers are from Black Ink.

Gianocostas was delighted with her first Blurb experience: “We uploaded the files and ordered one sample first, to see what it looked like. I adjusted some of the colors, fixed a couple of typos, and then uploaded it again.” She has since used Blurb for a second project, and this time she was able to use Blurb’s ProLine.

All of the deFINEd Bindings are on their way back to their respective makers, and some of them are for sale. If you’d like more information about a particular binding, please contact Jeff Altepeter, president of the New England GBW chapter ([email protected]). And if you missed our original rave about PWD (complete with unsolicited comment from John Carrera!), it’s here.