BIO
Jane studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University specialising in experimental psychology and then went on to work at the Bank of England before moving on to voluntary work.
She took up bookbinding during a career break from the Bank, initially at City Lit where she has studied fine binding in leather and vellum with Kathy Abbott and gold tooling with Tracey Rowledge. She took the post graduate certificate course in bookbinding at the London College of Communication in 2006, and various other courses over the years since she started bookbinding. She is currently studying with Mark Cockram at Studio 5.
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
Limited Editions Club 1968
194 x 272 38 mm
Bound in 2022
Full vellum binding, in natural calf with a split board construction with supported French groove. Rough edge gilded edges and sewn silk endbands. The design is tooled in two colours of gold using tools commissioned for this project.
The decision to bind this particular book was a personal response to the Covid pandemic. The design is derived from images of plague bacillus growing in a petri dish – there is intended to be a disconnect between the lightness of decoration and the darkness of the book’s subject matter.
1984 by George Orwell
Folio Society 1984
164 x 236 x 39mm
Bound in 2022
Full leather binding in black Harmatan leather with leather jointed endpapers and doublures using Japanese paper. Rough edge graphite edges and sewn red silk end bands. Blind tooled decoration on front and back cover.
I wanted to create a book which reflected my own response to the book which took in the horror and despair of the protagonists and their situation. The plot of the book involves deception and the design is made up from the title of the book and some people see that straightaway and others don’t.
Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint by William Shakespeare
Folio Society 1989
158 x 220 X 30 mm
Bound in 2023
Full leather binding with hand coloured Japanese paper endpapers and doublures. Acrylic coloured edges to match endpapers. Multicoloured handsewn silk endbands. The cover is decorated with loosely drawn gold tooled lines on the front and back covers.
The design is based on the 14 lines of a Shakespearean sonnet and is intended to evoke handwriting and positioned so they might feel like hands embracing the text of the book.
L’Allegro and Il Penseroso by John Milton
Heritage Press 1954
185 x 260 x24 mm
Bound in 2019
Dos-a-dos case binding with a disappearing spine construction. The boards are covered in Tyvek which was hand coloured with acrylic inks, coloured Tyvek also used for spine and and endbands. All edges are rough edged gilded – L’Allegro and Il Penseroso poems are edge gilded with different golds, with the colours chosen to reflect the contrasting content of the two poems (day/night, playful/thoughtful). Simple made endpapers using different colours for the two poems.
The use and the colouring of Tyvek was experimental and the colours were intended to bring to mind the vibrancy of the original William Blake illustrations of the poems now in the Morgan Library in New York.
GET IN TOUCH
Email: jadams1289@aol.com
Instagram: @poplarjane
Accepts Commissions: Yes
