Lisbon

This archival, hand-sewn journal/sketchbook is made from 100 gsm, custard Hahnemühle Ingres mouldmade paper from Germany, sewn with Irish linen thread in the linked stitch pattern that dates back at least to the Ancient Copts.  It allows the book to lay open easily to any page.

 This book’s endbands are green and yellow cotton, and its bookmark is goatskin.  Its spine is covered in goatskin, and its boards are wrapped in a retired, annotated, 1944 aviation chart showing wartime approaches to Lisbon and the Spanish/Portugese border.

 Treasure binding began with monks in the 6^th 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 book is a 1943 commemorative coin celebrating the German fighting airplane, the Messerschmitt, named “knife-maker” because of their precision. In spite of Franco’s pro-German leaning, Spaniards were evenly divided between the Axis and Allied Powers, so Spain declared itself officially neutral. Portugal was publicly neutral as well while supplying metals to the Axis militaries.

This book is approximately 6.5 x 9.5” with a few more than 150 blank pages.