STEPHEN CONWAY, designer bookbinder. DUNNING, John & POE, Edgar Allan. ~ The Bookman's Wake; with the Raven.
Bookman’s Wake, A Mystery: First edition. Pp.352. 160 x 238 mms. 8vo., spine of black goatskin and patterned tinted calf sections, black goatskin foredge strip, upper and lower boards covered in parchment overprinted with reverse images of various typefaces each side with a central panel of grey calf, inlaid with calf circles of metallic silver and bronze each with a letter in black, attractive handpainted vellum doublures, black and red painted edges.
The Raven: Illustrations by George Tute. Pp. [29]. 80 x 110 mms. 16mo., a single section binding of patterned tinted calf spine with black morocco foredge, boards covered in parchment, overprinted with reverse images of various typfaces, handpainted paper underlays on both sides, handpainted endpapers, black metallic painted edges.
Both housed in the original special folding box with internal lid which contains hidden beneath the main book, the small copy of The Raven...
The Bookman’s Wake is a murder mystery set in the world of Private Presses and printers. The story revolves around the search for a very rare edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, printed by the Grayson Press...not mentioned in any bibliography, copies of this book would be worth a fortune to collectors, should they ever be available.....
Stephen Conway is a bookbinder of some standing in the UK. Having served a five-year apprenticeship, Stephen worked at the Scolar Press fine bindery, Ilkley and Smith Settle, Otley, before establishing his own business in 1985.
He currently runs a bindery in Halifax, West Yorkshire, working mainly on private press editions, presentation work, commissions and design binding.
In 1998 he won the Designer Bookbinders medal, and in 2000 was elected Fellow of Designer Bookbinders. His design bindings are housed in private collections and institutions worldwide, including The British Library and The National Library of Scotland. These two bindings accomplished and inventive bindings were completed in 2002.