Ahhh, have you held a copy of Maggies’s Harvest by Maggie Beer? No? Really? You are seriously missing out!
This is one of our favourite books when it comes to embellishments and there’s no doubt about just how ground-breaking the case finishes were at the time this hardback was published in 2007, by those creative folk at Lantern (Penguin Books).
Why do we love it so much, let us count the ways…
Well, the case of the book is not only padded but is embroidered using cotton coloured burnt orange and a stunning turquoise. The stitches are sewn onto a linen-feel fabric, (wrapping the case boards) then screen printed and stamped with white foil. The book is a whopping 700+ pages and has been printed on the most gorgeous, cream-coloured uncoated paper. And, I guess you’d expect two satin ribbon markers in a book so large?
So how can one book afford so many fancy embellishments you ask? Often, that’s the offshore factor. Teamed with a large print run and a very efficient and vast team of hand-workers, these finishes that dress up books become a whole lot more cost-effective and manageable.