Commission Binding for the Booker Award 2024 Prize-Winner
By Samantha Harvey.
Published by Jonathan Cape (2023). Bound by Glenn Malkin (2024)
Book dimensions: 210mm x 138mm x 23mm
The book is sewn onto four linen tapes, trimmed and edge decorated with acrylics and sprinkled palladium leaf. The hand-sewn endbands are silk. It is bound in full dark blue Pentland goatskin, airbrushed with black and white acrylic inks. The leather inlaid circles are surrounded by channels painted with blue acrylic and are decorated with leather dyes and acrylics including craquelle details. The doublures are edge-to-edge airbrushed Pentland leather with an inlaid dot of pale blue. The endpapers are dyed spiderweb Lokta paper. The book is presented in a bespoke wooden box lined with suede, with a lifting ribbon and a decorative leather title panel on the lid.
Harvey’s book follows the thoughts, emotions and actions of the crew of six aboard the International Space Station as they repeatedly circle the Earth over a twenty four hour period. The design represents the sixteen orbits they make during this time. Each circle on the cover suggests a different abstracted view of part of our planet as the space station crosses our globe, set against a background of our own galaxy. The doublures feature a representation of Carl Sagan’s ‘Pale Blue Dot’, a view of our own planet from a distant spaceship and which highlights the author’s vivid exploration of our own insignificance in the cosmic timeline. The image on the box, beneath the title, represents the earth’s fragile atmosphere as might be seen by the astronauts.
