Herringbone Bindery
Erin Fletcher : Fine Binding & Edition Binding
Front cover of The Island binding on a white table. Front cover of The Island binding on a white table. Edge of The Island binding on a white table. Interior of The Island binding on a white table. Interior of The Island binding on a white table. Box and The Island binding standing on a white table. Box front cover of The Island binding on a white table. Box front cover of The Island binding on a white table.
The Island: An Amsterdam Saga - by Geert Mak
With illustrations by Max Kisman
Stichting Handboekbinden De Buitenkant/Museum Meermanno, 2016



Bound as a Three-Part Bradel binding. Spine covered in black goatskin with onlays of light grey buffalo and goat suede. Boards covered in black goatskin on top and chocolate brown goatskin on bottom. Onlays of stone veneer and vellum. Embroidered elements in cotton embroidery floss. Lines and dots tooled through various colored foils. Leather wrapped endbands, wrapped with alternating threads. Edge painted with beige Acryla and orange Acryla. Endpapers are handmade by Hook Pottery paper (wheatstraw black) and Katie MacGregor (orange).

Book is housed in a full leather clamshell box covered with ivory buffalo skin. Rat embroidered through various leather onlays using cottom embroidery floss. Title piece embroidered through two layers of leather onlays. Trays covered in handmade Katie MacGregor paper in orange and lined with handmade paper by Hook Pottery Paper, wheatstraw in black.

7.6cm x 5.4cm x 1.8cm – Completed in 2017



Exhibition History
  • Exhibited in Stichting Handboekbinden 2017-18 International Miniature Bookbinding Competition at Meermanno Museum, The Hague, Netherlands



Artist Statement
The denizens of this forgotten island are plagued by sickness. Many theories are put forth as to the source of their ailments, such as, pigeons from Chernobyl moulting their radioactive feathers, skulls and bones that lay under an old chapel or that the ground is full of chemicals.

All of these potentials hazards are soon pushed aside as the population is removed for new growth and development. On the top half of the binding, I took inspiration from the KNSM Island Skydome, a housing project built by Wiel Arets Architects. Its angular and sleek design became a stark contrast to a landscape that had fallen into disarray by its derelict inhabitants.