Victoria by Hamsun

Limp vellum binding sewn on calf skin strips

My latest bookbinding project is a limp vellum binding of "Victoria - A Love Story" by Knut Hamsun. For those who do not know the story, it is the classic story of the pore miller's son and a rich girl who is in love - and of course they cannot have each other.

I wanted to show the rich and the poor in the binding, using expensive vellum and somewhat crude and inexpensive calf skin. I put silver buttons representing the rich. I made a pouch out of a knitted Norwegian "lusekofte" to represent the poor. All these elements makes the book very Norwegian, and I wanted to show just that in the binding.

I do not know yet, but I hope that the book will be exhibited in Brugge, Belgium for the bookbinding convention Xth FIRA that takes place in May next year. Fingers crossed :)