the Secret Belgian Binding

This past Saturday I assisted a workshop through the Philadelphia Center for the Book on the Secret Belgian Binding, taught by Lucia Farias. Although I had seen multiple examples of this binding previously, I had never before had the opportunity to learn the structure. It was wonderful to get to assist on the workshop and learn from Lucia.

The workshop took place in our bindery at UArts. 

Lucia demonstrating how to cover the boards.

Demonstrating the stitch which binds the covers to the spine.

Sewing the covers onto the sewn text block.

And here is the book that I produced on Saturday! The cover papers were paste papers made and supplied by Lucia. 

I really like this structure for its practical characteristics and possible commercial purposes, but I'm unsure how often it will fit into my artistic repertoire. Perhaps I will find it more useful after I experiment with more alternative materials.