Lined journal, 240 sides of 110 gsm smooth ivory paper. 

The covers are hand marbled papers from the legendary Douglas Cockerell and Son. There is a lovely video held by the East Anglian Film Archive which you can watch here - it lasts about 15 minutes, and shows exactly how these papers were made. Although frames were used to give a regularity to the patterns, the enormous skill in creating these high precision patterns should not be underestimated, and in my view they are a complete marvel to behold. These papers have not been made for perhaps 30 years, and they are now few and far between.

120 x 165 mm 

Commonplace Books are a very purposeful way of using a journal, or giving one as a gift. They have been used since the Fifteenth Century, the idea being to record passages of text, poems, quotations, recipes, reading lists, drawings, sayings, family turns of phrase, calligraphy, aspirations  - any words of perceived wisdom or personal significance -  all making up a memoir of the author’s interests over a number of years. All sorts of famous people have kept Commonplace Books including John Milton, Napoleon Bonaparte, Lewis Carroll and Virginia Woolf.  A brief note about the history and use of Commonplace Books is enclosed with the book. 

(Painted roses)