Prometheus Bound Books - Blog

Oh to be Really Useful

Marie Stevens — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:16:40 GMT

The shocking news today about Marie Colvin’s death will have affected everyone who values accurate news reporting and admires the selfless bravery of those who bring it to us. If it is not too trite to say it, hers was a useful life in the broadest sense and we all gained knowledge and perspective from her unbiased, truthful and fearless articles.

Today I received an email from a respected political commentator, a giant in her field and friend and colleague of the famous. A recent brush with the medical profession caused her to comment that she wished she could do something “really useful” with her life, commending, as one so often hears, the kindness and empathy of the medical profession. And that from someone whose wisdom, intelligence and insightful writing have certainly been more than useful in shaping political strategy.

So being useful is perhaps what we all strive to be? And such a difficult concept of course. Here at Prometheus Bound we have been working on binding Boudoir photographs (a fairly recent development and offering “intimate” photographs of wives and girlfriends). Not a bit “useful” you might think – until you read the testimonials of the customers who have used these services and presented the “beautiful” results to delighted recipients. Surely “useful” in its own way – supporting, saving or perhaps reviving relationships, all suffering in such difficult times in which those closest to us will feel the effect of individual hardship the most.

It is Lent now – the traditional time for giving something up and perhaps more in the news that usual given the current focus on the position of the Church of England in our daily life. But giving things up is perhaps not that useful (other than the pleasure in the personal sacrifice); more useful perhaps is the recommendation from the vicar in the Archers that those keeping Lent should do a daily “random act of kindness”. Food for thought.

So is bookbinding “useful”? We believe it is. The preservation of a lovely traditional craft has a place, particularly in ugly times; beauty does have its uses – in lifting the heart, refreshing the soul and preserving our heritage.

What the Dickens!*

Sue Williams — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:40:36 GMT

As we close in on the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth on February 7th we do really have to thank the BBC for helping to bring it to the public’s awareness. Of course there are countless groups dedicated to keeping his memory alive and he has always been read widely, but it is so encouraging to see several of his books in the bestseller lists, which is not usually the case. The rather wonderful adaption of ‘Great Expectations’ was enthralling, with the added bonus of a very beautiful Pip, Burberry model no less, who would surely have attracted a younger viewer who may not have encountered Dickens before. I have my reservations about ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ adaption, but, hey, it still pulled in lots of viewers . Being on the TV sells books, we only have to look at the enormous popularity and massive subsequent sales from any cookery series to see that. And what is more, people buy the physical book , hurrah, – is there word for this now? Paper book? 3D book?

Also, as I am sure is being repeated all over the country, indeed the world, my book club decided we should start 2012 by reading another Dickens. We went for ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ which some of us had read before, albeit many moons ago. I hadn’t and gosh I’m so pleased I am reading it now. It is unputdownable and is keeping me up until far too late reading. I couldn’t say the same for our last book – Julian Barnes’ Booker winner ‘A Sense of an Ending’, which I ended up reading twice. My opinion of it changed rather after that second reading which threw up many more unsatisfactory questions – for goodness sake why didn’t Veronica just tell him what he ‘didn’t get’! In spite of that, we all thought it was an exceptional book and it certainly was up there in the ‘how long did we discuss that?’ stakes, which says a lot.
Barnes’ book has a great first line – ‘I remember, in no particular order:’ (and encapsulates the essence of the book) but I’ afraid that it is beaten hands down by the start of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ –
‘It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,’

Hairs rising on the back of your neck?
If you haven’t read any Dickens now is the time to start.

In fact this lovely phrase has nothing whatsoever to do with Charles Dickens. It originates from Shakespeare in ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ where the word Dickens refers to the devil – and, to quote from the 20th Century – we all know that ‘the devil is in the detail’ .

What better description is there of the work of Charles Dickens , except that ‘God is in the detail’.

Interiors and Christmas on our minds

Marie Stevens — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:28:07 GMT

A really gratifying response to our new PB Couture Covers has made me look critically at the horrendous state of my own bookcases – I am not suggesting that I am the latest word in interior style but it would be very nice to have my sets colour coded (reveal as it would my obsession to read authors in their entirety in turn). For example – Richmal Crompton 31, E.M.Delafield 38, Noel Streatfeild 11, Elizabeth Taylor 13. There is a tremendous similarity in these authors of course – middle class domestic early 20th century – so to prove (to my children who find my focus somewhat odd) that I am not welded to second hand books I am taking time out from received English, Church attendance and nursery puddings to read Caitlin Moran’s brilliant new book, How to Be a Woman. I am only half way through it but can already highly recommend it for the stellar writing and wonderful, self deprecating humour.

Terrifyingly, we now have Christmas on our minds. Magazines (like the fashion industry and my sister who has already started Christmas shopping) think way, way ahead and we are already in production for our Christmas specials which we think will make wonderful gifts. This year we have gone all out with the front cover embossing so you can expect to see a beautiful Great Gatsby with an art deco design and a Sherlock Holmes with an embossed deer stalker hat (what else?) on these pages soon. We are also again making nice, chunky, A5 diaries for 2012 in all of our bindings and have some other products which make nice (and easy!) gifts.

We have also taken a stall at the Clifton Nursery Christmas Market (Clifton Villas, London, W9) for the three weekends running up to Christmas which we are looking forward to (not least because the stalls adjoin their amazing cafe…). If anyone wants to see what Sue and I look like in the flesh, come along and take a look at what is on offer. We will have a selection of our books and other products available (and probably a bottle of something bracing under the stall). We’ll put some details about the market up on our site soon – it promises to be a really fun event.

LIVE LONGER! READ BOOKS!

Sue Williams — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:45:36 GMT

A survey published by the academics of the University of Queensland this week concluded that every hour glued to the TV ‘shortens life by 22 minutes’. What better excuse do we bibliophiles have for getting up out of our chairs ( very good exercise) to get another book off the shelf – we’re all going to live longer!

Though I must admit that I would willingly give up 22 minutes of my life to watch Idris Elba in ‘The Wire’ , or indeed in anything,( make that 44 minutes), our brains are surely stimulated more by the inspiring words we read than by any visual input. Books we read in our childhood stay with us throughout our lives. Whether it is the Harry Potter series, or Terry Pratchett’s novels , ‘The Arabian Nights’, or ‘Swallows and Amazons’, two of my personal childhood favourites, remembering them we still get that same tingle of excitement as when we first stepped into those imaginary worlds.

Once seduced by the written word, whether by having stories read to one as a child or having discovered them subsequently, one is hooked for life. And so much is owed to Roald Dahl and J.K. Rowling, who are probably the authors most responsible for inspiring young people to read. Subsequently, those readers will pass their enthusiasm onto the next generation. We have proof of that at Prometheus Bound as we bind so many books to be given to godchildren and grandchildren and from children treating their parents to a special edition of their favourite book.
Cultivating the imagination of a young child is of paramount importance.

I’d like to refer to the following quote, by a scientist, no less:
‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand’.

This was articulated by Albert Einstein.

Enough said.

An honourable profession

Marie Stevens — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:18:24 GMT

My mind has turned to honour this week as I finished a book I last read when I was around 16. I came across Stanley J. Weyman’s “Under the Red Robe” while hunting (as we do) in a second hand book shop and remembered how much I had enjoyed it. First published around the turn of the last century the action takes place in the time of the feared Cardinal Richelieu and his harsh suppression of the Huguenots and, apart from being a very good read, the book is a wonderful evocation of the codes of a time when honour was more important than life and a man’s “parole” could be relied upon. Although rarely read these days, the author was very popular 90 years ago and both Oscar Wilde and Graham Greene were fans. I now feel compelled to re-read other books of the same period (those wonderful Geste brothers beckon me again) although I am conscious that my reading seems to be going backwards in time and I shall have to get Sue to pull me back into the 21 century for fear I will be attempting to decipher illuminated manuscripts before too long (not to mention talking in a very strange way).

But there is something in the relationship between books and honour I think (isn’t one instinctively trusting of someone with their nose in a book?) and certainly bookbinding like other traditional skills has a high degree of integrity in its execution. Our binders excel at their craft and would not countenance letting a binding leave their work bench until it had reached their exacting standard – it is a pleasure to see how they give the closest attention to each small detail. We share that desire to produce only the best and to inspire those unfamiliar with the craft to appreciate the timeless, honest, quality of a bound book.