Congratulations to Marcus Janssens, winner of the Harmatan Award for Forwarding in this year’s Society of Bookbinders International Competition!

All About Bookbinding aims to produce high quality tutorial videos by renowned and respected bookbinders. Three titles are currently available to purchase for online viewing or download:

‘An Introduction to Traditional Gold Tooling’ and ‘Restoring Antiquarian Leather Bindings’ are presented by Trevor Lloyd MBE and serve not only as introductions for beginners, but also contain many invaluable tips and tricks that are sure to be of use even to more experienced binders.

The latest production, ‘Preparing and Covering a Modern Full-Leather Binding’ features Designer Bookbinders President Stuart Brockman, who takes us step-by-step from a sewn text-block through to a complete leather-bound volume ready for tooling and onlay work etc.

For more details and to purchase the tutorials, visit allaboutbookbinding.com

Shepherds, Sangorski & Sutcliffe and Zaehnsdorf have collaborated with Oxford University Press in producing four finely bound bibles for His Majesty King Charles III’s Coronation.

Six staff spent over 300 hours binding and finishing the four bibles, the first of which was used in the ceremony and will now be kept at Lambeth Palace, where an archive of coronation bibles stretching back centuries is held. The second copy will be given to King Charles III as a gift from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The two remaining copies will be kept by Westminster Abbey and Oxford University Press.

With the commission coming at the beginning of January 2023, OUP and Shepherds had to make many decisions swiftly. The leather chosen, a rich crimson vegetable-tanned goatskin, was produced by Harmatan, and the initial cover design of a nature-inspired roundel created by the design team at OUP. This design was expanded and completed by Shepherds to create a harmonious finish. The final specification involves leather doublures with inlays of dark blue leather, navy blue silk flyleaves, hand-sewn silk endbands, raised bands on the spine, and a full gilt finish inside and out of 24ct gold leaf.

Boxes were made to hold each bible with the King’s cypher emblazoned in gold to the top.

We are delighted to announce that we have been granted The Stationers’ Company Warrant. The award was made for quality, environmental concerns/issues and workings, and customer service.

‘The Stationers’ Warrant scheme was launched in 2014 and has established itself as a mark of recognition, highlighting excellence within our industries. Members of The Stationers’ Company hold the Warrant in extremely high esteem reflecting our unique reach and expertise.‘

See more at their website.

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Holidays 2024

Autumn

Close Friday 25th October

Open Monday 4th November

Christmas

Close Friday 20th December

open Thursday 2nd January 2025.

Holidays 2025.

Spring.

Close Friday 23rd May

Open Monday 2nd June

Summer.

Close Friday 25th July

Open Monday 11th August

Autumn.

Close Friday 24th October

Open Monday 3rd November

Christmas.

Close Friday 24th December

Open Thursday 5th January 2026.

This is a project has taken many years not just by myself but many makers and collectors.

My daughter Lucy suggested the title as it was short enough to fit in the plain green space and it relates to the folding of the paper and how rock folds over geological time. The idea was to save the many unique pattern papers most often used in book production to illustrate geological time.

These papers are usually classified by date, the places in which they were made or by the makers who either designed or marbled them. The pattern papers are folded and joined with various colours of cloth which are exposed at the spine. This is to give the impression of the many colours which make up soil and rock. The geological time periods are separated with handmade paper  and embossed with gold.

Geology defines our world and the soil which all life is dependent. Devon is rich in geological sites including the Jurassic Coast. The local red sandstone gives its named to the Devonian period. The granite from Dartmoor washed down to form the Bovey Basin, home to rich deposits of clay. The final pieces are plastic which in the current Anthropocene period humans are leaving in the fossil record.

It has helped many people to understand the length of geological time and human influence upon it. My thanks to the geologists who have given their time to look at how the papers were arranged to see if any were wildly out of context.

The cover leather is batik dyed  from the manufacturer Harmatan. The box is also Harmatan suede. The book is held together with album rivets and the cover is supported on either side by an engraved bar, made locally.

The video was shot by Selby Thomas.

Mary Bartlett, Dartington Hall, 2019.

GDPR

When you make an enquiry with us we collect your information. We store your personal details on our database, these include: Names, Business name, Address, email,, phone number, and VAT numbers.

Our database is not shared with any third party and is not stored at our premises. We will need to contact you with information regarding our products and services. Our website does not use cookies, does not store or collect any personal information other than the details you pass to us in an email.

Credit/debit card details are all shredded immediately after their use. The receipt slips are retained but not stored at our premises.

We do hold a hard copy of all Customer invoices at our premises, the site is secured overnight.

If you wish to be excluded from any of the above protocols please inform us by email, phone or letter.

From the 1st January every year a  price increase on all leathers becomes effective.

Netherlands 

This is now going to be held in the book town of Deventer.

Saturday 11th October.

More details to follow.

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UK

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Society of Bookbinders.

Conference/Seminar.

University of York 13-16th August 2026.

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Designer Bookbinders.

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Belgium.

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Germany

New Event!!

Sunday 2nd. November 2025.

10.30 to 16.30

At the Industriemuseum in Lohne.

Kustermeyerstr.20

D-49393 Lohne.

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France

Salon Anima Libri.

Montreal Bellay [ sud du Maine et Loire].

19th  to 22 nd February 2026.

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Bienalles de la Reluire.

St. Remy les Chevreuse.

24-26 September 20226.

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USA.

Guild of Bookworkers, Standards.

Iowa City.

9-11 October 2025.

Bindings by George & Patricia Sargent (Dragonfly Bindery) and Philipp Janssen can now be seen on Page 3 of our Gallery section.

Bindings by Ingeir Djuvik, Kate Holland and Mel Jefferson can now be seen on Page 3 of our Gallery.

All of the goatskins in the Harmatan Fine Leather range are selected, tanned in Sumac and dyed in to our vast range of colours. When ‘finished’ the skins are then sorted/selected into the 3 selling grades.

Grade 1. Every single part of the skin is usable with no marks. These skins are now virtually impossible to find in Northern Nigeria due to the increased use of barbed wire (the animals sratch/itch themselves against wire,tree stumps anything !).

Grade 2. Small number of naturally occuring marks mainly towards the outside edges of the skins. They are suitable for full binding work etc.

Grade 3. An even greater number of natural marks and scratches but still very usable for small full binding, half or quarter style bindings. If you wish to give us a cut size or provide us with a template we will probably be able to find a skin from this selection and save yourself some money.

Please do remember that all our skins bought via ‘Fair Trade’ in Northern Nigeria are all free range!

The animals do roam freely most of the time (except when fields are planted, or not harvested). Leather is a natural product, therefore it bears natural characteristics such as grain variation, growth and bush marks and when seen on the finished product indicate that it is a totally natural grain and not a machine embossed one!

Harmatan – GB £100 per hour ex VAT. Minimum charge time 1/2 hour.

No liability will be accepted for any damage, thickness variation, inability to split due to tannage irregularities on leather not produced by Harmatan Ltd.

USA
Hohenforst Splitting Co
152-4 W.Fulton Street
Gloversville
NY-12078
tel:518 725 0012

Belgium
Yves Orbach
132, rue R.Vandeveldestraat
B-1030 Brussels
Belgium
tel: 02 242 5789.

UK
Shepherds Bookbindery Ltd
Units 107/108
30,Great Guildford Street
London
SE1 0HS
tel: 0207 620 0060

Millimeters / Ounces
0.4 mm / 1 oz
0.5 mm / 1 1/4 oz
0.6 mm / 1 1/2 oz
0.8 mm / 2 oz
1.0 mm / 2 1/2 oz
1.2 mm / 3 oz

Monday – Thursday:  8.00am – 5.00pm
Friday: 8.00am – 4.00pm