i just wanted to share with you some of the other treasures that my little dutch boy brought back from japan! these books have been bound using a four-hole stab binding method and are traditionally finished with a blank title strip on the front for the author to finish himself. at first they looked backwards to me, and then i remembered that the books in japan are opened from left to right, instead of our western way of turning the pages from right to left!
the cover papers were handmade by the people who own the shop. i wish you could feel them...they remind me of a flannel shirt that's been washed and then hung to dry on the line outside. they are actually quite soft, with just the right amount of stiffness! the corners on these books were finished with corner pieces...another part of the traditional binding process.
this little brown book is probably my favorite. each page has been lined for the purpose of writing haiku...and it's been signed by the binder on the inside of the back cover! a true masterpiece!
