Proposal

Beveled double boards layered with hand-laid paper, vellum spine lining, seven raised bands, sewn in headbands. Scarlet Harmatan goat hide molded on a bas-relief sculptural substrate of Arches watercolor paper layered in three planes. Endpapers hand painted to complement the colors of the text block, the leather, and the painting. The red and gold color scheme honors Didot’s 1788 design, while motifs of reflection/imitation, monastic arches, the Trees of Life around the Water of Life, and the Light are included. The triple arch on the front cover frames a painting of a golden morning sun reflected upon still waters. The arches on the back cover frame a sculpted Tree of Life by the Pilgrim’s Road. Lettering modeled on Janon Carcain’s 1486 edition of the text.

Example

Peter Brown. The Book of Kells: Forty-Eight Pages and Details in Color from the Manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1981

Old cover removed and pages trimmed, ironed, guarded, and sewn on five bands. Encased in a modified K-118 structure with vellum spine, double boards interspersed with hand-laid paper, hand-sewn headbands, and a sculptural substrate of layered Arches watercolor paper. Dark green Harmatan goatskin, dark green endpapers. Painting on front board based on reproduction in text, trimmed and placed in sculpted frame.