Iona Abbey Library
Preserving Iona Abbey Library
In March 2017 we were invited to the Isle of Iona to visit the Iona Abbey Library. There John and Lesley Anne appraised hundreds of books on their two day trip and we, along with two other conservators, were awarded the tender.
Iona Abbey Library is one of the most important libraries in Western Europe and attracts over 130,000 visitors a year. It is where St Columba's monks sat down to write and illustrate the Book of Kells before being rudely interrupted by the vikings!
In September 2016 the tiny library, hidden above the cloisters of the abbey, received a grant of £100,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This is being used to support the two year restoration and conservation project preserving the unique works held in the library for future generations.
Shortly after receiving several boxes containing books and manuscripts which delve into the history of Scotland and its Gaelic ancestry we set to work. Where possible the books were restored as similarly to their original bindings as possible. In many cases this involved paper repair work and conservation binding, and where pamphlets and manuscripts had been previously unprotected, they were now secured in new cases so that the internal pages will stay preserved for many more years to come.
In December 2017 we safely returned the precious works to the Iona Abbey Cathedral Trust who will look after them until the Abbey Library restoration project has been completed. We hope to be involved in the public exhibition to be created on Iona; in this it's final year; to showcase all the hard work put into this venture before its expected completion in October.
"Thank you very much to DAD Bookbinders for all your hard work and attention to our books. They have been in good hands"
Sue Clutterbuck, Project Manager, Iona Abbey Library Project
The Artists' BookMarket 2017
Our Talented Co-workers at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Kerry Douglas
On Saturday afternoon while most of the capital were watching the rugby Gail and I travelled straight past Murrayfield to The Fruitmarket Gallery to see all the lovely work on display last weekend at this years Artists' Bookmarket, Edinburgh.
Two of our very own bookbinders, Kerry Douglas and Gillian Stewart, were showcasing some of their own stunning prints and books among many other artists, designers and makers.
This was the first year I've been to the BookMarket but I hear it has been running for 7 years now and is sort of an annual mini artist book festival with people exhibiting and selling their work, along with talks and discussion groups, workshops and poetry readings.
There were around 40 stalls to peruse (and purchase from!) showing an interesting variety of not just book making but also book art, photography, poetry, writing, drawings, ceramic and glass work, printing and letterpress among other techniques.
Gillian Stewart
Although here in our bindery we pride ourselves on our quality of craftsmanship, it is not usual for us to be able to work as creatively as we saw the artists do at the BookMarket. The books and booklets we saw were little works of art in themselves and really inspiring to pick up and look through. Kerry and Gillian specialise in graphic design, illustration and printmaking, which combined with the skills they have learnt here at Downie Allison Downie, they use to create beautiful and thought provoking art - in book form!
I should have told you all about it sooner so that everyone could have gone to see the BookMarket - I do apologise! But please have a look at their amazing work and check out their websites. by clicking on any of the images in this post.
If you have an idea for an book project but don't know where to begin we can help it come to fruition We are always happy to listen to your thoughts and answer any questions we can. You could even come and do a class with us to learn the basics now you've seen what can be achieved!
Kerry looking after her and Gillian's stand at the Artists' Bookmarket
Kerry Douglas
Gillian Stewart
Kerry Douglas
Be my Valentine?
Love is in the Air!
Letterpress card - GreyMoggiePress on etsy.com
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not head over heels in love with Valentine's Day but if it's gonna be then at least let it be homemade!
Apart from my disagreement that there should be a special day appropriated to tell your loved one how much they mean to you - surely this should be a much more regular occurrence! I hate the pressure it puts on us to spend when Christmas has only just disappeared behind us. Showing love should be simple.
I reckon the choice in Valentines cards has got a lot better in recent years. I especially like funny ones - serious love can be light hearted!
But, there is no need to buy one if you can make your own! It was drummed into me in my early school days that nothing shows your true feelings like something handmade and I don't think you're ever too old for this not to be true. If you're not the best artist why not try cutting letters out of a newspaper for that lovely ransom note effect!
idea from whitegunpowder.com
Another sure fire winner is to say it with sweeties! Click this image for instructions how to make cute little pokes to put treats in.
Paper flowers last longer than the real thing too and there are many step-by-step guides to doing that online as well!
Or how about the purest of them all - write an old-fashioned love letter and show someone they deserve more than a text. Here's a beautiful example of a letter written by Johnny Cash to his wife June showing any little scrap of paper will do as long as the words come from the heart!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Adventures in London
Road Trip!
Every 4 weeks a couple of "lucky" bookbinders get to drive our wee van down to London and back on a two day road trip. Last week it was the turn of Gail and I.
We left at 7am on Monday morning and with just a few stops for coffee on the way we had a thankfully uneventful journey to the capital. We blethered all the way and arrived at our first stop, The British Library, at about 3:30pm. After making our delivery there we headed to pick up a little box of books in need of repair from the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths'.
We also needed to deliver an order to the London Library and collect another even bigger one to take home. The London Library give us lots of interesting rebinding work as they are such an eclectic organisation and a beautiful library - I encourage everyone to visit. They run tours!
All this before we even get to check into our hotel!
But, not a minute is wasted as we head out to enjoy the small amount of free time we have to explore the city. Gail and I love a walk to Covent Garden and a look around the quirky stalls and shops. Although we had to cut our wanderings short as we had a dinner date with our bosses!
Robin and Lesley-Anne are currently looking after a huge library cleaning job for the Royal College of Surgeons and kindly offered to take us out for our evening meal. We had a lovely time, a couple of cocktails and tried to keep the work chat to a minimum.
The following morning, Gail and I were up early to get back to the British Library. As we are not allowed to remove any of the materials from the library we need to go and measure up all the items to then create a bespoke box for each back in our workshop. The process can be fairly time consuming but they require such an accurate fit that it is the only way we can do their order effectively.
The British Library is another amazing place. It is like an iceberg as it has more levels under the city as it does above, with the vast majority of their items being stored in temperature and humidity controlled, airless environments below street level. The main areas of the library are littered with people working from notepads and laptops with the reading rooms being completely and eerily silent.
With only one more small collection to do on our way out of London we drove our laden van back, through the rain, to Glasgow. Our highlight of the drive home was meeting these two cheeky chaps at Tebay service station!
It is a long trip to do every month but we need to take care of our customers in London in the same way as we do our lovely Scottish clients!
Back in the Bindery!
Old Meets New in our New Year
This book has been re-backed in leather with the old spine remounted. The top panel had been lost so we tooled it to match.
Happy New Year everyone! We were hard at it up until Christmas, and January certainly isn't breaking us in gently after the festive season!
After a couple of days to catch up with, and finish off a couple of smaller jobs we spent yesterday cleaning the workshop from top to bottom. Decluttering and tidying in preparation for an exciting year!
Having already been awarded a prestigious tender from a huge library in London towards the end of last year, we are preparing to apply for another! These large contracts are really important for us, not only to keep us all in a job, but for to prove how great our little bindery is! We are a small operation, but we take pride in taking the same care over each book in a big order as we do with those brought to us by individual customers who come to our door every day. The quality of every single book has to reach our high standards!
Our next tender application relies on us expanding our more specialised repair and conservation skills. As more and more binding of new books is being done on such a massive scale, mainly by machines, bookbinding by hand is becoming a dying art - especially book repair. Every book brought to us for restoration is different which makes our job more difficult, but also much more interesting!
We find a lot of people want us to rebind their favourite books, books they want to hand down to their children and some that have been passed down to them. Some folk find old books in charity shops and second hand bookshops and take a shine to them, love the smell of them. They are treasured for the pencil notes in the margins, inscriptions on the front page and beautiful illustrations - both the ones printed in the book and the ones your 3 year old scribbled when you left it out near the colouring pens. Books can hold incredible sentimental value for their owners, something a modern e-book could never manage.
If you have a book you'd like restored, just bring it in - we are always happy to chat about books! You could even have a go at fixing it yourself - under our expert supervision of course - on one of our Book Repair Classes.
