Events  | International Competition 2015

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Fifteen prizes over five categories were awarded in 2015, including two new awards. For the first time we also produced an exhibition catalogue, which includes colour images of every book. The catalogue is available to purchase via our online Shop.

IBC_Cat_2015_1
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The winning entries were announced at the Society’s Conference at Keele University on 20th – 23rd August 2015. Awards were presented on the first evening of the Conference and all entries were exhibited at the Conference for the duration.

Choose from the tabs above to see the winning entries.

2015 Prizewinners
Fine Binding First Prize – F.J. Ratchford (The John Coleman Trophy)
Glenn Malkin

Fine Binding Second Prize
Dominic Riley

Fine Binding Third Prize
Lars Hedegaard

The Complete Book First Prize – The Portnall Award
Lee Hillman

The Complete Book Second Prize
Ann Tout

Case Binding First Prize – The F.J. Ratchford Trophy
Coleen Curry

Restoration First Prize – The Bernard Middleton Trophy
John Richards

Historic Binding First Prize – The ABA Educational Trust
Sean Richards

The Farthing Press Award for Best Newcomer
Celia Dominguez Fontan

People’s Choice Award
Sarah Ruddick

Fine Cut International Award for Finishing
Andrew Sims

Harmatan Leather Award for Forwarding
Eduardo Gimenez

Incline Press: Dave Godin Memorial Award for Animal Free Binding
Sumi Perera

J Hewit & Sons Award for Excellence in Design
Yohana Doudoux
Francoise Vogelenzang

 

Travelling Exhibition Venues

George Bayntun, Bath
5th Oct - 6th Nov 2015
website

Shepherds Bookbinders
London
14th Nov 2015 - 8th Jan 2016
website

Fine Binding

  • First Prize: The John Coleman Trophy (F.J. Ratchford)
    Glenn Malkin
    Imitations of English Poets

    Glenn Malkin
    UK

    Imitations of English Poets by Alexander Pope

    Bound in full craquelé decorated fair goat with recessed panels of embossed dyed goat and carbon tooling. Goat suede endpapers and full leather doublures with carbon tooling. The edges are decorated with acrylics and sprinkled gold leaf. The double panels represent Pope’s attempts to mimic classical poets - similar but not identical. Presented in a suede lined drop-back box.

  • Second Prize
    Dominic Riley
    A Midsommer Nights Dreame

    Dominic Riley
    UK

    A Midsommer Nights Dreame by William Shakespeare

    Bound in black goatskin with multi-coloured onlays and gold-tooling. Suede flyleaves and leather joints and doublures. Top edge gilt. The arches of the Palace collide with the trees of the forest, all within the space of the theatre. The protagonists are depicted across the banner – the timeline – of the action. The design strives for dramatic tension, colourful humour and the opulence of gold.

  • Third Prize
    Lars Hedegaard
    The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

    Lars Hedegaard
    Denmark

    The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

    Spine and sides in blue Morocco. Headbands leather and silk. Top edge gold-tooled and decorated. Khayaam was a sufi and among the sufis it was a tradition to have ritual dances combined with the burning of frankincense, myrrh and amber. The dancers gyrate, vibrate and tremble into a hypnotic state and when they reach that state they see the world around them as looking through a piece of amber. Amber is traditionally associated with the desert and the nights.
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    Complete Book

  • First Prize: The Portnall Award
    Lee Hillman
    Shower

    Lee Hillman
    Wales

    Shower by Lee Hillman

    Constructed as a double concertina binding, a combination of hand-drawn illustrations, photography and typographical layout, together with airbrushing techniques and digital printing, describing a dream-like narrative of transformation from both a male and female perspective. Encased in a magnetic, hand-dyed goatskin and hand-tooled palladium leaf cover, the book takes on the shape of a ‘bar of soap’, and is complemented by it’s hand-knitted wash bag and washcloth.

  • Second Prize
    Ann Tout
    Evening Still

    Ann Tout
    from

    Evening Still by D.S. Hole

    Concertina binding with watercolour paintings enclosed in blue papier-maché boards formed on a linocut and painted in oil and acrylic. All worked in Griffen Mill paper except for some linen on spine. Inspired by a walk on the Downs in 2015.
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    Case Binding

  • First Prize: The F.J. Ratchford Trophy
    Coleen Curry
    Pruned Boughs

    Coleen Curry
    USA

    Pruned Boughs by Michael Hannon

    Quartzite stone binding. Secondary sewing with copper wire staples through handmade wooden stays fastened with parchment. Suede flyleaves lined with Japanese paper. Secondary distressed suede flyleaf. Original cover of Cave paper lined with letter press printed paper by Claude Braun. Bronze pieces on cover wrapped in copper wire and secured through cover.
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    Restoration

  • First Prize: The Bernard Middleton Trophy
    John Richards
    Book of Common Prayer

    John Richards
    UK

    Book of Common Prayer

    Rationale: to restore this book with as little intervention as possible. Condition: boards detached, sewing broken, corners broken. Techniques employed: spine removed as panels. Text sewn on hemp cords. Headbands sewn, corners rebuilt and repaired. Front is backed onto contemporary paper. Gilding replaced where appropriate. Materials: archival goat, contemporary marbled paper and plain paper, wheat flour paste, Gampi tissue and egg glaire.
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    Historic Binding

  • First Prize: The ABA Educational Trust
    Sean Richards
    Blank book

    Sean Richards
    USA

    Blank book

    In the German style (circa 1550)

    German 16th century blind tooled pigskin over quartered beech boards. The brass dies were made using rubbings taken from books in the University of Oklahoma’s History of Science collections. I made the clasp from sheet brass and toned them using a bronzing chemical. The text block is composed of handmade paper sewn on double cord. Edges were stained blue per the period.

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    Farthing Press

  • The Farthing Press Award for Best Newcomer
    Celia Dominguez Fontan
    Cartas de republicanos galegos condenados a notre 1936 – 1948

    Celia Dominguez Fontan
    Spain

    Cartas de republicanos galegos condenados a notre 1936 – 1948 by Xesus Alonso Montero

    Full leather buffalo skin. Lino-printed in black. Edges painted using aniline dyes. Endbands hand-sewn using two colours of silk thread. Flyleaves same skin and buckskin with lino-printing in black and red. Jacket spine and bands in buffalo skin and boards in Cobra paper. Case same materials. Gilded by Miguel Perez Fernandez.
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    Fine Cut International
    Harmatan Leather

  • Award for Finishing
    Andrew Sims
    Book of Common Prayer

    Andrew Sims
    UK

    Book of Common Prayer

    A Harleian-style binding in full hand-stained Morocco, reminiscent of the work of Cambridge binder Edwin Moor. Wide gilt-rolled borders, enclosing typical concave lozenge composed of massed individual tools. Saltire decoration to spine panels. Gilt rolls to board edges, headcaps and inner dentelles. New comb-marbled endpapers, toned. Hand-sewn silk endbands. Housed in full period calf clamshell box, antiqued by binder.

  • Award for Forwarding
    Eduardo Gimenez
    L’oeuvre de Pierre Lecuire

    Eduardo Gimenez
    Spain

    L’oeuvre de Pierre Lecuire: La nuit
    bleue dans tous ses habits

    Dorfner-style case binding in black calfskin. Pale blue suede onlays with orange paper inlays. Blue leather headbands. Black and orange Nepalese paper doublure and flyleaves. Japanese black silk drop-back box with the title lettered in gold.
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    Incline Press

  • Dave Godin Memorial Award for Animal-free Binding
    Sumi Perera
    IO-OI [Inside Out - Outside In]

    Sumi Perera
    UK

    IO-OI [Inside Out - Outside In] by Sumi Perera

    Trilogy featuring the artist’s site-specific installations (Museum in the Park, Stroud/West Yorkshire Printworkshop etc). Etched, aquatinted and embossed prints incorporate the artist’s own house-plans, Serpentine Gallery Pavilions’ blueprints and surrounding road-maps which explore how bodies navigate space inside/outside buildings. French-folds enclose hidden texts. The embossed fonts [Inside Out] / debossed fonts [Outside In] and windows in each dust-jacket allow the book to be judged by its cover.
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    J Hewit & Sons

  • Award for Design
    Yohana Doudoux
    Hong Kong, Scenes of a floating world

    Yohana Doudoux
    France

    Hong Kong, Scenes of a floating world by Kenneth White

    In fifteen short poems, Kenneth White describes Hong Kong. The design represents the bay of Hong Kong “floating” on the sea at dusk. I dyed the leather for the covering and the onlays using different techniques, including suminagashi for the sea and craquelé for the buildings. Gold-tooling for the windows and the title. The endpapers are made with suminagashi paper sprinkled with gold.

  • Award for Design
    Francoise Vogelenzang
    Het Miniatuurboek

    Francoise Vogelenzang
    Netherlands

    Het Miniatuurboek by Ben Engelhart

    Traditional French binding in three colours, board on board, open spine with visible coloured sections. Hand-sewn headband. Title tooled by hand. Decoration of coloured paper the same as the sections on front and back.
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    People's Choice Award

  • People's Choice Award
    Sarah Ruddick
    The Jungle Book

    Sarah Ruddick
    UK

    The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

    Full leather binding with onlays and foil-tooled detailing: indented Perspex-covered eyes drawn using coloured pencils; leather jointed endpapers and paper doublures depicting scene from the book. Text block sewn on tapes, and laced onto cushioned boards; acrylic edge painting; silk endbands. Bagheera’s eyes “as hard as jade stones”, peer through jungle foliage, encircled by Kaa, the Rock Python.
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    COMPETITION SPONSORS
    The ABA Educational Trust
    ABS Supplies
    Bookbinding Supplies
    Mr & Mrs Brown
    Conservation by Design
    Dominic Winter
    Maureen Duke
    Farthing Press
    FiberMark Red Bridge International Ltd
    Fine Cut Graphic Imaging Ltd
    George Bayntun Booksellers
    Griffen Mill
    Gwasg Gregynog
    Habberley Meadows
    Harmatan and Oakridge Leather Ltd
    J Hewitt & Sons Ltd
    Inky Parrot Press
    Incline Press
    Jemma Lewis Marbling and Design


    John Purcell Paper
    JVO Papers
    Leather Conservation Centre
    Louise Brockman Marble Paper
    David & Maureen Nye
    The Old School Press
    The Old Stile Press
    P & S Engraving
    Payhembury Papers
    Pergamena
    F J Ratchford Ltd
    Russells Fine Leather
    Shepherds Bookbinders
    Sophie Schneideman
    Stuart Southall
    William Cowley Parchment and Vellum
    Winter & Co
    William Zachs

    Plus many anonymous donors