Orsay

This archival, hand-sewn journal/sketchbook is made from 120 gsm, Arches Arches 100% cotton rag archival paper from France, 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 blue and white linen, and its bookmark is grosgrain ribbon.  Its spine is covered split saffiano goatskin, the finished preferred by the Italian house Prada, and its boards are wrapped in a paper that was hand silk-screened in Japan in a factory where kimono fabric is printed.

 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 souvenir token from the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.  The Museum is housed in a former train station, built for the 1900 Exposition Universale.  It was reopened as a museum in 1986 and houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist pieces in the world.

This book is approximately 6.5 x 10” with a few more than 150 blank pages.