Endpapers: usually ignored and hastily turned to get to the title or the preface or the story. They are quiet, forgotten. Blank. But paper has a memory. It retains history on the edges and in the corners.
I began collecting endpapers from old books because I was interested in printing on them. The found paper had a subtlety that new paper lacked. I stacked the collected pages on the corner of my worktable and was struck by how they changed when they layered or overlapped. In many ways this book began by accident.
The covers were very frustrating. I made half a dozen sets with bookcloth or leather or paper, and none of them felt right. Finally I realized that if the interior content was taken from old books, then perhaps the covers should be appropriated from an old book as well. I came across the beautiful marbled covers of an old atlas and knew they would work.
Continued
photolithograph, vintage endpapers, and hand-stitching
8 page accordion structure with hardcovers, unique edition
6.75 x 52" opened
copyright Kate Castell 2012
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