Tree Anniversary Journal
This customer contacted me looking for a book to give to his wife on their wedding day. His idea was that it would have enough pages in it so that they could each fill 5 pages of the book every year on their anniversary for the next 50 years. He wanted them to write in this book to record their lives together. This customer was also a talented designer and had very definite ideas about how he wanted the cover to look. He designed the tree on the front and the monogram on the back cover. This book was roughly 10"x10" with completely blank pages. The cover is a dark, chocolate brown Sokoto goatskin leather. The tree design was made into a very large metal die so it could be blind embossed into the leather. The monogram design for the back was also made into a metal die so it could be stamped onto the cover. The wording on the spine and dedication on the back cover waere blind stamped using moveable metal type. There is a rust/copper/burnt orange colored ribbon page marker. I really liked the fact that the wedding colors for this couple were burnt orange and dark brown! The endpapers were a lovely, mottled brown and black handmade paper. The main costs on this book were the number of pages (lots of hand sewing) and the dies used to make the very distinct designs stamped on the front and back covers. Dies are charged by the inch and the front cover die was about 5" square; about as large as the machinery I use can handle. That die alone cost around $135.
So this book would end up costing around $390, but it was exactly what the customer wanted.