The Bind
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
The Bind charts the rise and fall of Egret Bindings, once the most prestigious firm of bookbinders in London.
In 1910 brothers Guy and Victor Egret take on an ambitious commission: a deluxe, jewelled binding of a collection of poems, A Moonless Land. It proves to be a moment of hubris. The work triggers their ruin, watched by the disapproving spirit of their father, Garrison Egret.
A darkly humorous tale of sibling rivalry and creative one-upmanship, The Bind shows once again that William Goldsmith is an incomparable storyteller and a marvellously inventive artist.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Exquisitely designed and produced, Goldsmith's second book (following the acclaimed Vignettes of Ystov) is not only an illustrated blueprint of the craft of rebinding rare books, but a dark-humored saga of the downfall of two bookbinder brothers who swindle and double-cross each other. Goldsmith's art dances us through the bookbinding processes, while his script spins an enthralling saga of cunning plans and obsessive greed. There's an impressive amount of technical research on the tools and techniques of the binders, but the charm is in the synthesis of story and picture. The narrative eschews kinetic action in favor of precisely paced panels: most pages contain six identically sized panels, with larger panels breaking into a hallucinatory dream, or in one case a 24-panel page laying out an elaborate swindle. The art is in light blacks and shades of burnt umber that recall antique leather binding. This is a beautiful book to savor and hold.
