The Red Book for Woburn Abbey, 1805 by Humpfry Repton Reproduced from the original manuscript in the private library of the 15th Duke of Bedford
Limited to 75 copies, of which 61 copies are for sale, this limited edition was commissioned by the Duke of Bedford to mark the
bicentenary of the death of innovative landscape designer Humphry Repton
(1752-1818).
Repton took great pride in the Red Books he produced to present his work
to clients, of which Woburn is recognised as one of the finest examples.
Shepherds, Sangorski & Sutcliffe started work on the project in early
2019 and the bindery is now approximately half way through the edition.
Shepherds was given control of the whole production process including
the painstaking and exacting process of disbinding the original book in
order to scan the text and plates.
The printing of the facsimile was undertaken by Pureprint in Sussex
using the latest Indigo printing technology. The reprographics took many
months of retouching the scans to colour match as closely as possible
Repton’s hand painted watercolours and iron gall ink. Even the back of
pages, although blank, were scanned and printed to match the appearance
of the original book.
The printing was undertaken on an HP Indigo 12000 Digital Press, one of
only two large format printers of its kind in the country. Indigo
printing is particularly suited to close colour matching on uncoated
papers and ‘Somerset’ 100% cotton paper was chosen for its similarity to
the weight and feel of the early 19th century paper.
Every aspect of the binding follows a strict adherence to the methods
and techniques used on the original Red Book housed in the library at
Woburn Abbey.
The Woburn Red Book was covered in straight grain morocco and J. Hewit &
Sons took up the challenge of creating skins that matched the colour and
texture of the original leather. The straight grain leather was boarded
by hand, an ancient technique that creates the subtle texture so
characteristic of late 18th century and early 19th
century bindings. The result was a perfect match.
This attention to detail is carried through the whole production
process. To achieve the antique feel of the gilding the edges were hand
gilded prior to sewing, a technique known as ‘rough edge gilding’.
As in the original Red Book, the text leaves and plates are
overcast on cords before being head-banded. The leather is then ‘drawn
on’ over laced boards.
The gold finishing has been carried out entirely by hand closely
following the original design. New tools were cut by P&S engraving to
ensure the tooling matched the original patterns and three days are
devoted to the gold tooling of every book. Hand tooling in gold leaf
produces a lustre that cannot be reproduced by machine or the use of
blocking dies.
The result is a binding that not only achieves a close match to the
original Red Book but is a fine example of how specialist manufacturers
such as Pureprint and J. Hewit and Son can combine both modern and
traditional skills to produce great results. Humphry Repton – RED BOOK FOR WOBURN ABBEY 1805
A limited edition of 75 copies signed by the 15th Duke of
Bedford
114 pages, 24 watercolours and 8 reveals (552 x 423m)
Housed in a dark red cloth slipcase. For more information contact Rob Shepherd on rjs@bookbinding.co.uk
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