Folio Society edition. 8vo., 23x16.5cm, 253pp. Finely bound by Matt Stockl in full red goatskin with black goatskin onlay, hand-tooled in 23.tct gold leaf, edges decorated with acrylic paint under distressed black foil, symbolising flaming match heads through smoke, hand sewn headbands, edge to edge paper doublures decorated with black calligrapher’s ink, with original red cloth drop back box, upper cover with vertical strip of black goatskin lettered in gilt. London, Folio Society. 2023, 2023.
Fine.
This playful binding by Matt Stockl won the Elizabeth Greenhill Prize for Gold Tooling at the 2025 Designer Bookbinder’s DBUK competition. Matt is a professional bookbinder working at the Royal Collection Trust at Windsor Castle. ‘Matt’s design bindings are done after work hours and once the children are put to bed. Usually by lamplight on the kitchen work top. He favours traditional fine binding methods, particularly gold tooling and leather onlay, and seeks to incorporate figurative and illustrative elements in his work’ (Designer Bookbinders)
