August/September 2003
ANTARCTICA
Explorer Series, Volume One
The Binding
There is something to say about a book that is as beautiful and valuable on the outside as it is on the inside. For Pat and Rosemarie Keough, that was exactly their mission. Almost a decade ago, they dreamed of creating the world’s highest quality book as an innovative way to leverage their personal capital and talents toward supporting worthy conservation and social causes. They have made that dream a reality. The process to get there was not easy, but with a lot of dedication and a vision of the best, they set out for what most would think impossible.
Antarctica: Explorer Series, Volume 1 (Nahanni Productions Inc., May 2002) is limited to just one full-leather, morocco-bound edition of 950 books plus 50 proofs. The weight of the book in its presentation box is 12.5 kg (27.6lbs). The book is sewn and bound by hand, and is catching global attention and winning international awards.
The traditional choice for fine binding is goat leather because it is strong, abrasion-resistant and durable. Goat leather covers thousand-year-old books such as those of the Sinai’s St. Catherine’s Monastery are in relatively good condition to this day. Antarctica is fully bound in morocco goat leather, among the most expensive in book leathers. J. Hewit & Sons of Scotland is one of only three tanneries in the world that specialize in book leather. The custom-dyed, morocco (the highest grade leather for book binding) from Hewit first received a vegetable tannage, followed by a newly developed archival process that neutralizes the effects of humidity and atmospheric acids from air pollution. Although they did consider other leathers, they soon discovered them inappropriate for fine binding.
The next step in the process was to find the best hand bindery. They asked their tanneries to recommend a leading hand bindery. They quickly learned that while there are many one-and two-person binderies that specialize in restorations or designer bindings, such craftsmen would require five to 10 years to bind the entire edition. They eventually awarded their contract to Felton Bookbinding Ltd. of Ontario, Canada.
Master binder Keith Felton worked for more than a year perfecting the design of the binding. Irish linen thread was selected for the hand sewing of the book because of its archival properties and it does not stretch through time. Thus the tension of the 288 stitches and numerous knots found in each copy of Antarctica will remain constant.
Traditional split-board construction was chosen for its strength and durability – Antarctica being landscape in orientation and so very heavy. This historic binding method was utilized so that books would not come apart, especially heavily used books such as accounting ledgers and library books of centuries past.
While the pages are being hand sewn on a sewing frame (akin to a loom), the thread is woven over four 2-cm (3/4”) wide linen “tapes” in the spine. These tapes are later permanently sandwiched and glued between laminations that make up the cover boards. Short of purposeful damage, the pages cannot separate from the cover.
Along with the durability of the split board, the authors also wanted the refined beauty of the European style of fine hand binding. All the hand binders told the Keoughs the two styles were “technically incompatible.” Felton agreed to try and meet their wishes. After much effort, he was successful. Antarctica is the world’s first book known to combine the best attributes of the split-board and classic European binding styles: strength and elegance.
European style characteristics include a rounded spine that has been carefully hammered into shape with a special mallet and “backed with shoulders” so that the covers lie flush with the spine. Noticeably absent from the covers is the French groove: a deep joint running alongside the spine on the front and back covers of all split-board and also all machine-bound volumes that permits books to open readily. The skill of fine hand binding is to fashion a book that opens smoothly without the benefit of the French groove, as is the case with Antarctica.
Nothing about this book was left to chance. From the binding to the hollow back, which refers to the pyramid-shaped space that appears between the spine of the pages and the spine of the cover when the book lies open. Then there is the Dutch linen presentation box that accompanies the book…but that is another long story.
The Lithography
Antarctica has been awarded the coveted Benny—a distinction that is as important to the international printing and graphic arts community as an Oscar is to the film industry. The Benny, short for Benjamin Franklin Award, recognizes the world’s best printing. The Independent Publishing community of North America bestowed Antarctica the Outstanding Book of the Year Award – Best Book Arts Craftsmanship. These are just two of the eleven international and national awards Antarctica has received thus far.
As far as the printing of the book, the Keoughs weren’t going to settle for anything but the best, so they requested samples and quotations from 20 candidate firms. They visited each of the printers that made their short list, and insisted that they print four representative pages from the book on the actual production press that would be used for the entire book. Once that was complete, they compared the results side by side and found the best quality and most accurate color in Hemlock Printers Limited, British Columbia, Canada.
Antarctica is the first art book to be printed with 10-micron stochastic dots – leading-edge technology that has three times the resolution of traditional high-end lithography. This means that each individual dot of ink in the book is only one hundredth of a millimeter in diameter.
The Photography
The Keough’s have been professional photographers and publishers for 20 years, and 90,000 copies of their previous trade books are in people’s homes around the world.
“Having determined that Antarctica would be the first volume in our Explorer Series, we dedicated two austral summers—November through March—to explore and experience this frigid wilderness. During this period we each used almost 400 rolls of slide film,” they said.
What are conditions like in Antarctica for serious photography? The Keoughs write in their text : “Snow is drifting in sinuous patterns, flowing quite literally like a whitewater river, our boots entirely lost to sight. This experience is exhilarating and initially seems benign. The summer temperature is a moderate – 23°C. The cameras are cold but still functioning, our fingers the same, albeit stiffly. The wind gains a few knots of strength and the loose, swirling snow rises to our waists with fines blowing about our faces. Wispy tendrils fill the air, streaming past ever denser, stinging the eyes while we are taking photos, infiltrating all openings, suffocating, blinding and soon developing into a howling blizzard. The cameras are completely shrouded in snow and the film fully exposed. Changing rolls is out of the question.”
Selecting the final images was one of the hardest parts of the whole project for them. They sought a balance between wildlife species, the multiple shapes of icebergs, the variety of landscapes and atmospheric conditions, and the hand of man. It was important for them to have a balance between the majestic landscape and the icy seas. The images in the book are acknowledged by experts at the British Antarctic Survey, Scott Polar Research Institute, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and The Explorers Club as the most impressive and evocative collection of photographs of Antarctica ever published.
Through all the difficulties that arose during this arduous process of bookmaking they subscribed to the philosophy of Norway’s Liv Arnesen, the first woman to ski solo, completely on her own, to the South Pole without a following Ski-Doo or dog team with supplies. “To fulfill a dream, it must be converted into a goal, so that one may start planning. Hard work then follows. Most ambitions can be realized, so long as your motives are strong enough and genuine.”
By Sara Boomer
