Private collection

This book and its box are dummies made for eductional purposes.

Cased-in book, rounded spine with Oxford hollow. Bookcloth and foil.

Private collection

The debut novel by Willem Elsschot is bound in a German-style binding. The book block is sewn on ramie tape. The head edge is finished with graphite. Both head and tail feature hand-sewn endbands. The cover is made of vellum. The matching slipcase is covered with leather and Elefantenhaut paper.
The image on the book continues seamlessly from the front cover across the spine to the back cover. This continuity is maintained even when the book is placed in its slipcase.

Private Collection

This agenda for the year 2024 is bound using the Secret Belgian Binding, a technique developed by Anne Goy. The fact that 2024 is a leap year is reflected in the twelve bindings: their lengths correspond to the lengths of the months, with February marked in a contrasting color.

Collection of the Historical Society Heemstede-Bennebroek

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Oude Kerk in Heemstede, the Foundation Friends of the Oude Kerk Heemstede commissioned a study into the building’s constructional history. I bound the research report on behalf of the foundation in an edition of two copies.

Private collection

Every year Dutch literature is celebrated during the Book Week. The 2023 Book Week Gift is the beautiful novella “De eerlijke vinder” by Lize Spit.
Invited by the Stichting Handboekbinden to participate in their annual binding challenge I bound this book using a simple but beautiful limp vellum binding.
The signatures are sewn onto a single leather thong and onto flax cord headbands. The textblock is attached to the vellum wrapper with vellum strings using a cross-stitch from the first to the last signature. The attachments are strengthened with pieces of vellum and leather. The turn-ins of the vellum are closed with pieces of vellum string. The wrapper is fastened at the fore-edge with a small leather monkey fist and leather loop. The title is embossed on the front of the wrapper in blue foil. The book sits in a solander box covered in blue lokta paper and handprinted paper by Lenneke Saraber. The flippo with Elmer as Vincent van Gogh is embedded on the inside of the lid. This is a tribute to Jimmy, the main character of the book, a boy who collects flippo’s, and has never seen this flippo before. A strip of vellum with the booktitle in blue foil is embedded on the front of the box.

Private Collection

A hand-set manuscript from 1776 printed on handmade paper about typefoundries and punchcutting. The book is bound in the German style. The book block is sewn on ramie bands. The top edge is finished with an ivory cut. Head and tail are fitted with hand-sewn silk endbands. The cover is made of goatskin parchment, with a foil-stamped title. The parchment is decorated with alcohol-based stains. The matching slipcase is covered with goatskin leather and a hand-marbled paper.

Private Collection

The book Sonny Boy by Annejet van der Zijl was published in unbound sections by the Dutch Bookbinding Foundation (Stichting Handboekbinden). For my contribution to the exhibition of this book at the Amsterdam Public Library, I chose a restrained binding style. The spine is covered in black paper and black linen. The boards are clad in handmade paper by Brigitte Chardome.

Private Collection

A simple pamphlet binding of a poem will spark joy on a rainy summer morning.