wow.

Little Library by Todd Pattison
Andover, Massachusetts

Found and altered early 19th-century leather binding with fore-edge clasps. The bookshelves of the altered binding hold seventy-two blank leather- and paper-covered books which open and range in height from 1” to 1.5”. Working full time leaves only so many hours to pursue my own bindings, and I find that I normally spend several months or more completing a single full leather volume. Working on this piece allowed me to bind the same number of books in one night that would otherwise take a year or more. This tends to generate creativity and experimentation and also makes bookbinding pretty fun! 7.5 x 4.75 x 1.5 inches, 19 x 12 x 4 centimeters. Created 2009.

Todd Pattison studied bookbinding with Fred Jordan in western New York state in the late 1970s and early 1980s and went on to study with Hugo Peller and Edwin Heim in Ascona, Switzerland. He is currently senior book conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center where he has worked for the past eighteen years.

From the Guild of Book Workers Marking Time Exhibition.