Progress

This archival, hand-sewn journal/sketchbook is made from 100 gsm, antique white 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 blue and gold silk, and its bookmark is goatskin.  Its spine is covered French goatskin, and its boards are wrapped in a 1948 map of the north central states.

 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 souvenir medallion from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, celebrating “A Century of Progress,” from the first electromagnetic telegraph in 1833 to Dow Chemical’s invention of plastic wrap. 

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