Anti Atlas
This archival, hand-sewn journal/sketchbook is made from 80 gsm Mohawk Superfine archival paper stitched with Irish linen thread in the linked pattern that was developed by the ancient Copts. This stitch allows the book to lay open easily at any page.
This book’s endbands are blue and white cotton, and its bookmark is goatskin. Its spine is covered in blue bonded leather, and its boards are wrapped in a 1942 wartime map of colonial West Africa.
Treasure binding began with monks in the 6th Century who would encrust volumes with jewels. During the Renaissance, there was a resurgence in treasure binding. This is a contemporary revival of the treasure binding in which a lucky charm has been embedded in the cover of this book.
The talisman in this journal is an Ethiopian 1 santeem coin, featuring the head of a roaring lion. In African cultures, the lion has long symbolized royalty, strength, and spirituality, as, indeed, it does around the world.
This book is approximately 6 x 9” with a few more than 150 blank pages.