Byzantium’s third publication introduces a new collaborator, Susan Meller, and her extensive collection of original gouache designs for printed fabrics from c.1800 to 1825. She and Barbara have written texts covering history and techniques, which will be illustrated in each copy with over 90 tipped-in samples.
These paintings were gathered into large, unwieldy tomes, known as pattern books. Textile mills kept these books to help manage a nearly boundless output of designs. With scruffy bindings, tattered fore-edges and blunted corners, their exteriors give little hint to the treasures within. In the most chaotic of the books, the gouache paintings are unnumbered and diverse, often crammed, sometimes 60 to a page, upside down and sideways in a delightful jumble. From the Introduction
The edition will be bound and boxed by Claudia Cohen. Ten deluxe copies will include two textile sample booklets and a set of dye samples. The book, designed by Barbara, is set in Monotype Fournier. It will be printed at HM with the handpress, on dampened Arches wove paper.
Publication is planned for late 2025.