DE WALDEN PRESS

 Miniature Hand made limited edition books

Limited Edition of 35 copies, signed and numbered.  Click on thumbnail for larger image

Bound in calf leather, the book is hand sewn over dyed vellum slips, laced into the covers.  This style reflects the medieval origins of the Bridge.  The book fastens with a brass bar through loops on the front and back covers. A hand coloured Panorama of the Bridge, after an engraving of around 1600, folds out from the back of the book.  In addition there are six black & white illustrations.  A Royal Mail Postage Stamp of Old London Bridge forms the frontispiece of the book.

At least 3500 years ago, a wooden bridge was built across the River Thames at the crossing-point now known as London, establishing trading routes that are still traveled today.

In 1176, King Henry II instructed Peter de Colechurch to start building a permanent London Bridge in stone.  A vast and costly undertaking for those times, it took thirty-three years to complete, and was to stand for more that six centuries.  This huge achievement is detailed in “Old London Bridge”, from its inception to the eventual demolition of the Bridge in 1831.

An inhabited Bridge was not unique in the twelfth century, but Old London Bridge was the longest of such bridges, and must have been a spectacular sight.  The shops sold luxury goods such as jewelry and books.  The houses were built, decorated and furnished to the highest standards of the day and leased to wealthy and important people who wanted to live in a fashionable neighborhood.

Hand marbled paper for the endpapers was created by Ann Muir in a special version of the 18^th Century pattern ‘Stormont’, with orange and yellow veins swirled through a gray veined background representing the turbulent River Thames. The book is letterpress printed from photopolymer plates.

Illustrations include a double page map of Southwark  as it was in the 16^th Century, the Drawbridge and Great Stone Gates, the Chapel and a typical shop & dwelling house, all hand colored with water colors.   

“Old London Bridge” measures 3” x 2⁵/₈”, 64 pp. Price CA$ 475.00  Edition sold out