THE STORY

Occasionally we attend conferences in America and we make books to show off our work. This year we attended a botnic watercolour conference in Mobile, Alabama. 

Sadly, due to a mix-up in the post, these particular books didn't arrive and so i wasn't able to show them off. When I got home, these were waiting for me in my workshop. I was going to keep them and take them to the next watercolour conference in Pittsburgh in 2024 but instead I though I would list them here. 

These are filled with some incredible quality paper, made in the 50s to imitate genuine animal skin vellum. The value of the paper inside exceeds £400.

From a series of hand bound journals filled with super rare, vintage, imitation vellum paper for watercolour, calligraphy and drawing.

This binding is covered with Dutch Gilt paper.  

Dutch Gilt printing is a technique originating in C18th Germany where metal leaf is used in place of regular ink and gives a rich, reflective, luxurious look. The character of the leaf will change as it tarnishes over time. The leather spine and corners of this binding are tooled in gold leaf

Filled with 164 pages of IMITATION PARCHMENT paper. This type of paper is incredibly rare and sought after in the world of watercolour and calligraphy. 

Imitation Parchment is a type of paper invented in the 1800s as an affordable alternative to real animal parchment/vellum, to be used for legal documents, share certificates etc.

The process used top quality linen fibres beaten for a long time which creates a translucent sheet. At the end of the beating process a small amount of cotton was added to give a warm, soft white colour.

This paper is very smooth and crisp with an impressive rattle and surface sized with gelatine making it extremely receptive to wet media including paints and inks.

This paper is mould-made - a mechanised process which duplicates some of the characteristics found in handmade paper but with the benefit of improved speed, and greater sheet to sheet consistency 

HISTORY

Made by one of the most important British papermakers, Thomas Harry Saunders (1813 - 1870) who started a career in paper-making while in his twenties, becoming partner in a paper mill in 1840. 

After Saunders' death in 1870, the paper business continued at various mills along the River Darent. At some point, Wookey Hole Mill purchased the rights to produce TH Saunders paper. Those rights came to St Cuthberts Mill in 1959, with TH Saunders rebranded as Saunders Waterford in the 1980s.

Given the importance of Saunders' contribution to British papermaking, there are very few, if any records of the day to day running of his papermaking business - it is suspected that the records and archives were destroyed in the 1980s.

DETAILS

• LayFlat design - allows this book to open fully without causing any structual damage making it completely usable in the field or studio for years.
• Covers - Dutch Gilt hand printed paper
• Spine & Corners - Gold tooled leather
• Foredges - 2 deckled, 1 straight cut. 
• Endpapers - TH Saunders Imitation vellum
• Paper Inside - TH Saunders Imitation vellum
• Size- 11½ x 9 inches, 292 x 228 mm
• Page Count - 164
• Made By - J&J Jeffery

HANDMADE IN SCOTLAND TO THE HIGHEST STANDARD