Good afternoon everyone,

Thank you Margo for the lovely Fem Fris of the last two weeks. I enjoyed them so much.

Something I loved doing as a child was sitting at the bottom of my parent's bookshelves and looking at the books sort of at random. I wasn't (as I remember) looking for anything in particular, just wanted to see what cool things a volume might turn up. Of course the lower shelves of the bookcase are the ones most likely to hold the Handsome Editions so here is a Fem Fri on women bookbinders.

Let's start with Anastasia Power, accomplished bookbinder, calligrapher and mentor to Virginia Woolf:

Power was born in Whitby, the ninth, and youngest daughter of a local occultist. Initially a student of book binding grandee Douglas Cockerell, she soon set up a binding studio on Museum Street in London with fellow binder (and family friend of Virginia and Vanessa Stephen) Sylvia Stebbing, where they were regularly visited by the two sisters. There, in 1901, the young Virginia Stephen (later Woolf) “asked for lessons in binding old books of sheet music, and engaged in her book binding with purpose and application”.

https://www.peterharringtongallery.co.uk/blog/women-private-press/

One of the big names of early twentieth century woman bookbinders is Sybil Pye. This also represents a nice movement from the Art Nouveau of Anastasia Power to Art Deco:

Exposed to the craft of bookbinding from a young age, Pye began her career with simple white or natural pigskin leather before graduating to coloured goatskin leather inlay panels, like the one reproduced here. By 1934 she was creating complex covers of many different coloured inlays, and her work was regularly exhibited throughout England and around the world.

http://blog.paperblanks.com/2023/04/enter-the-lions-den-with-our-latest-design-celebrating-bookbinder-sybil-pye/

Unfortunately the Guild of Women Binders was founded by a man who was sort of a grifter, but before it went bust produced some absolutely lovely work which you can see at this link:

one of the pinnacles of early 20th century decorative bookbinding is the corpus of work produced by the Guild of Women Binders. These women provided some of the most technically adept and unique designs of the era by combining stylistic contemporary designs with sensitive color work.

https://bookbindersmuseum.org/the-bindings-of-to-morrow/

Mega love 💗

Alex.