Arcane Teachings – In Royal Binding Style
There is a saying – that the shoemaker’s children usually go without shoes. I believe this saying means that the shoemaker rarely has time to work on his own children’s shoes when he is busy working on the shoes of hs clients. This is the fact with me anyway- regardless of the meaning of the saying. I rarely bind my own books and normally find it extremely difficult, if not downright faux pas to even read the works I am binding. This book is an exception to that rule however. As a rare birthday present to myself I bound this book and gold tooled it in the little time I have “off” from my other duties.
From http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/esoterica/yarker_j/yarker_j.html
April 17, 1833 - March 20, 1913
Yarker was neither a degree-monger, nor a charlatan, for he believed what he wrote, that the many degrees he had discovered all predated regular Freemasonry. He never invented evidence but accepted, uncritically, the invented evidence of others. His desperate attempt to ensure the continuance of the Ancient and Primitive Rite led him into the company of the fraud, Theodore Reuss, and Aleister Crowley.
Expelled from the Ancient and Accepted Rite, he severed all connection with regular Freemasonry and later published The Arcane Schools: a review of their origin and antiquity; with a general history of Freemasonry, and its relation to the theosophic, scientific and philosophic mysteries, (Belfast: 1909); and was publisher of The Kneph,the official journal of the Antient and Primitive Rite, from 1881 to 1900.
Author of 26 short papers in the Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, he was an active promoter of the Royal Arch, Ancient and Primitive Rite, Knights Templar, and the old York degrees of Heredom-Kadosh.
Initiated: October 25, 1854
Lodge of Integrity No. 189 (later 163) Manchester Affiliated: April 27, 1855 Worshipful Master, 1857 Fidelity Lodge No. 623, Dunkinfield Demitted: 1862
See: John M. Hamill, “John Yarker: Masonic Charletan?” Ars Quatuor Coronatorum vol. cix (1996) pp. 191-214.
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- A Swastica was original to the binding representative of the ancient peoples called “aryans” not more modern Nazis who all but destroyed te original meaning of that symbol.
A Bit of Magic
Full hand dyed deckled calf adorned with extensive gold tooled designs, a central diamond leather blue inlay, and hand marbled end sheets. Eliphas Levi’s masterful tour de force deserved a royal treatment.
Diabolical Portraiture for Dr. LaVey
I have commissions from many sources, peoples, and places. Due to my past experience in the esoteric field I am often approached to work on materials that make some people squeamish. Oh well, most people are not me. I have a fun and long-standing client who has a deep admiration for Anton LaVey. As such he has me work on Dr. LaVey’s materials several times a year. I am honored to work on a book that is loved by its owner – whether the original author was Anton LaVey, Aleister Crowley, Buddha, or Jesus. I really do not mind the diverse spectrum of religious materials in fact I revel in it.
This work is bound in scarlet goat skin with black stamped pentagram and snake-skin onlay lightning bolt. Snake skin title plate, raised spine bands, several 666 stamps and traditional stamped design on the spine. Instead of past downs I did leather ha…nd dyed doublures – the front with a hand inked Anton LaVey which I drew with a quill pen and the back again stamped with the 666. I did a roll of black across the leather joints and added the traditional trident stamp at the corners to finish off the look. I also hand dyed the page top edges scarlet and the fore and bottom edges black and scarlet.
Masonry and Nature Worship
I bound these to books in December but sent them out in January…I am still binding my way out of this order and will have more to show for it. The Obelisk and Freemasonry was suffering from broken stitching and a dilapidated spine and Fishes, Flowers, and Fire; As Elements and Deities In the Phallic Faiths & Worship of the Ancients Religions of Greece, Babylon, Rome, Indian &c. For Obelisk… I wanted something very basic and direct and for Fishes a treatment invoking nature elements. Both books were restitched and had end sheets added.
Living With Himalayan Masters
Full deckled goat skin with gold tooled designs and custom Om symbols. The central motif is in the spirit of a Paul Bonet work. The book is “Living With The Himalayan Masters” by Swami Rama. I was given a price and a general idea of what the client wanted. I went with a custom OM stamp I made with a piece of brass and a Dremel tool as the central stamp surrounded with a waving repeating ray burst and small flames floating. All the tools for these elements were made in my shop and I supplemented them with traditional stamps for the corners, back, and spine. This was an expedited work and certain elements were done faster than I have ever worked before….or will ever work again. Bookbinding is as much an art as a craft and to rush it is not what makes beautiful books. That said, I think I can be proud and my client happy with this Christmas present.
A Masonic Presentation Folder
My Masonic Lodge often reads presentation material to new candidates and during public events. I was asked to create a leather book similar to a fine menu or wine list book one receives in an upscale eating establishment. This book would be used to place the material to be read and have an attractive look as well. The Brother who came up with the idea paid for the materials and I donated about 12 hours to creation of the piece. I look at it as an early Christmas present for the Lodge.
Masonic Minutes 1858
Hand Dyed Calf in a Cambridge Styled Binding. Black and Red Goat Title Plates, Blind Tooled Stamps.
Minneapolis Lode 19 AF & AM commissioned me to restore three of their precious Lodge record books. This Minutes book details the minutes for the year of Lodge activity 1858. The original binding was completely dry rotted and the pages detached. I restored the pages so that I could re-sew them and then created this new leather binding styled roughly on the original. This binding is sewn on tapes, as the original, and hand dyed to create a fine maple wood appearance….which I thought would accompany the Cambridge styled Panel nicely.
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- Hand Dyed Calf in a Cambridge Styled Binding. Black and Red Goat Title Plates, Blind Tooled Stamps.
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- Dry rotted to powder- missing head and foot
Dentelle Gold Tooling
I found a copy of The Rites Of Eleusis by Aleister Crowley et. al. published jointly by the O.T.O. Caliphate in California and Stellar Visions. These are fairly uncommon and some rare. Knowing that these were originally glorified pamphlets it may be surprising to see it in such a fancy binding. I find the subject matter calls for such treatment, however, and the binding was easy to transform with my inlaid stitching. This scarlet goat skin hand dyed leather binding is decorated with dentelle style gold tooling. I added agate banded end sheets in order to carry on the colors of the original tie dyed frontis. I would love to see this book in action before the participants in the Rites, robed, and decorated, incense cloying their noses and this book held before the viewers in the hands of the officiating practitioner.
Collections Come In
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Transmutaion Publishing offers collections of choice antiquarian and collectable books, manuscripts, art and ephemera and have recently partnered with JRR Bookworks to breathe new life into some of their choice editions. Pictured here are a few of the items I am have completed and there will be more to come. Hargrave Jennings The Rosicrucians Their Rites And Mysteries was bound in red goat skin that was spotted with charcoal black then hand tooled in blind with roses and crosses. Highland Second-Sight was bound in green goat with black covered, hand tooled scrolls, and gold stamped designs. Finally, Scotts Demonology and Witchcraft was given a new spine but the boards and cloth were saved.
Lodge 19 And The Minneapolis Scottish Rite Valley
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Minneapolis Lodge 19 AF & AM just relocated to the Scottish Rite Valley of Minneapolis Building. I have been working on decades of meeting minutes for the Scottish Rite Valley – perhaps as many as 30 years worth - and was fortunate to meet the Secretary of Lodge 19 while dropping off finished archival bindings and picking up new unbound minutes. The Worshipful 19′er presented me with three antique books in various states of disrepair and requested I preserve these invaluable records of his Lodge.
I have pictured here both the meeting minutes and one of the Lodge 19 bindings just finished.
The Scottish Rite Meeting Minutes are archivally perfect (adhesive) bound using acid free materials, inlaid stitching in the spine ensures the perfect binding will never break, white acid free artists paper was used for the end sheets and the cloth is a starched black buckram.
The Pages are aligned, sorted, collated and any booklets that are not stapled into placed are cut at the folded spine and added to the rest for a perfect (adhesive) bind.
The Lodge 19 By Laws started as early as 1858 and have been kept with new signatures yearly till the present day. Almost all the leaves were cracked and loose, the stitching was broken, the original dyed page edges was worn, and the faux leather cover was ugly to say the least. I disbound the whole book. I then had to unfold and lay our each page set and repair the folds with period specific paper pieces- glued into place to join the ripped or broken leaves. I also had to steam off the material on the paste downs and press it so that at the end I would be able to re-attach it. I added new lined pages att he end so that it can be used from decades to come. Once I re-stacked them, pressed them and sawed in new kerfs I hand stitched it “all along” on my sewing table. The End sheets are hand marbled by Chena River, each one being signed by the artists when complete. I hand dyed and waxed the page edges and re-backed the spine giving it a curved or rounded spine. I added new boards, raised spine bands, and covered them in black veg tanned goat skin. I then hand tooled the cover in gold and finally added a hand tooled cut/carved Lodge 19 brass emblem. Hours upon hours went into this project and the result is an acid free archival hand bound heirloom book that will continue to be used by the lodge well past my lifetime. I added a basic slip case with silk cord to protect the book and designed it with an inner channel for the brass 19 to slide within. This project was a challenge in keeping the page edges dyed but not allowing the dye to seep toward the antique writing- which goes right to the page edges. I hope the 19′ers will be happy with my efforts.
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