Forum Auctions
Lot 450
δ Bird (Jo, binder).- Betjeman (John) Selected Poems, edited by Alan Powers, illustrations, some colour by Peter Bailey, bound in pale green reversed goatskin, by Jo Bird, lettered with author & title in varying sized fonts in black carbon running across covers & spine in the shape of the North Cornwall coastline, pale green endpapers with circular cut-outs and "Poems" in black carbon or blind, pale green edges with similar lettering, grey sheepskin chemise with two circular cut-outs and lettering in blind, with binder's printed description of the binding, together in grey sheep-skin backed black cloth drop-back box, spine with circular pale green paper label and lettering in black & blind, 8vo (230 x 165mm.), Folio Society, 2004.⁂ Jo Bird studied Illustration and Graphic design at Norwich School of Art and was awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Bookbinding at London College of Communication in 2004. This book won First Prize and the Mansfield Silver Medal in the Designer Bookbinders Competition of 2005 and she was elected a Fellow of DB in 2010. Her work is held in private collections in UK, including The British Library, and the USA.In her accompanying note on this book she writes, "With my design I wanted to reflect the themes of rural and urban lifestyle that can be found in Betjeman's poetry. The green suede with the playful flowing text that follows the shape of the Cornwall coastline represents Betjeman's fondness for the English countryside and is tactile in texture. The grey chemise...represents his passion for cityscapes..."."It is important to me to bind a given book with great respect for the contents. My aim is to entice and excite the reader into the book, and to achieve harmony between design and function. Through my designs I look to convey an essential element of the book, and for my design to become a natural extension of it."δ This lot is sold subject to Artists Resale Rights, details of which can be found in our Terms and Conditions.
