Puttin' On The Ritz

Last night, I dreamed I was Louise Brooks. I was on stage, wearing a really excellent flapper dress, and dancing to Puttin' On The Ritz. Hmmm....I wonder what that means. Anyway, it was fun!

Here is Clark Gable doing his version in the 1939 film Idiot's Delight. 

A Poem to Read Out Loud: "A Birthday", by Christina Rossetti

A good poem for February, methinks:

A Birthday

My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;

My heart is like an apple-tree

Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;

My heart is like a rainbow-shell

That paddles in a halcyon sea;

My heart is gladder than all these,

because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;

hang it with vair and purple dyes;

Carve it in doves and pomegranates,

And peacocks with a hundred eyes;

Work it in gold and silver grapes,

In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;

Because the birthday of my life is come,

My love is come to me.

~Christina Rossetti

A Mystery Solved

I love to read a good mystery, curled up in a deep armchair with a box of restorative bon-bons nearby, and recently I managed to solve a small mystery myself. Nothing involving a murder, which is perhaps a good thing.

The other day I was leafing idly through one of my books on bookbinding, when I noticed a small, blurry, black-and-white photograph of a coptic stitched book (yes, this is a bookbinding mystery, Dear Reader :). 

On the cover of the book were some cross-stitchings that seemed to be part of the binding. And unfortunately, even though it was a very instructive book on bookbinding, in this case there was no explanation of how one would do that sort of stitching. Where is Sherlock Holmes when you need him? 

I became determined to solve the Mystery of the Cross-Stitch Coptic Binding, so I got out my needles and a couple of recently pressed book covers, and commenced my investigations.  And at last I think I've done it! Turns out it was a variation on a multiple-needle coptic stitch pattern I've been using for years for my books with wooden covers.  I just had to do a little criss-crossing with the needles, and voila! Here is the result:

I used reclaimed, walnut brown leather from a vintage bomber jacket for the covers, and stitched it together with sky blue Irish linen thread.

 On the inside covers are ephemera stickers with Italian and French handwriting:

I named this journal / sketch book "Blue Skies". It's currently residing on the shelves of my Etsy store.

Baseball Journal

While waiting for my book covers to dry in the press (see previous post), I finished my second baseball-themed journal / notebook. This one is called "Pop Fly":

Its covers are made from a well-worn, vintage Carlton Fisk catcher's mitt, and a bit of reclaimed bison leather. On the first page is a reproduction of an 1888 baseball card with a photo of Monte Ward of the New York Giants.  I loved this little photo! In it, Monte Ward is clearly in a photography studio, manfully reenacting a slide into home base. 

This journal is residing on the shelves of my Etsy store.

(Sold)

Anticipation

Here is my lovely old book press, in its temporary home in the living room:

I've been waiting with great anticipation for the contents to finish being pressed. Inside are the covers for two new journal/guest book/delirious products of the imagination, which I started working on yesterday. More on that to come anon, but I'm thinking at the moment that they (and some other books I'm thinking about) will have to do with my favorite cities: Paris, New York, and Venice.  

That little black blob in the background on the right is my faithful bookbinding dog, Gretta, who does no actual bookbinding herself, but is a very devoted companion and keeps me company while I work. She is at present hoping for a dog biscuit.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Revelry

The snow had been gently falling outside my little bookbinding studio, and on wintery-white days like this, one of my favorite things to do is to curl up next to the fire with a hot buttered rum and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  This year is the 170th birthday of that fine work (first published on the 19th of December, 1843). Here are the opening pages of the first edition (click on the picture to see a larger version):

The charming illustration, by John Leech, is of the ball that Mr. Fezziwig gave for his employees, including young Scrooge. Here is a close-up:

At holiday festivities in those days, a variety of fortifying beverages might be served, including something called Purl (beer heated up, then mixed with gin, ginger an sugar). Which might account for the liveliness of Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig's country dancing.

At the end of A Christmas Carol, a newly reformed and convivial Scrooge invites Bob Cratchit to join him in making merry with a glass of "Smoking Bishop", an exciting-looking punch made with port, red wine, oranges, cinnamon cloves, and other spices. It's then heated or "mulled" before serving.

“A merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a

 Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!"

Happy Holidays!