A Sense of Time Left by Maureen Morehead, Unique Binding by Scott Kellar

Binding Details:  A Sense of Time Left is a unique fine binding designed and executed by Scott Kellar in 2004. The binding is a laced into boards style binding covered in full maroon Harmatan goatskin with leather onlays, gold, and blind tooling. There are handsewn yellow silk endbands, and black Fabriano endsheets.  The edges are colored black and burnished.  Laid into the book is the tooling tissue Scott Kellar used for the binding. The book is housed in a custom made cloth covered clamshell box with a leather label containing the title and authors name in gilt. The book measures 9.5” x 6.5” x 1”.

The binding was selected for inclusion in the Canadian Book Binders and Book Artists Guild 25th anniversary edition in 2008 as well as The Book of Origins: A Survey of American Fine Binding.

Scott Kellar’s binding of A Sense of Time Left was the recipient of the Fine Binding (Reliure d’Art) J. Hewit & Sons Ltd. Award.

A copy of both catalogues will accompany the book along with Scott Kellar’s signed artist statement for “A Sense of Time Left”.

Book Details:  Published by Larkspur Press, Kentucky in 2003 with a limitation of 600 signed copies, A Sense of Time Left is a collection of poems in which, using time and place as markers, the author reflects on beauty, love, loss, and the meaning of home. To read one of Morehead's poems is to learn something about how deeply the subject of place informs her writing. As Morehead told an interviewer, "Poetry is imagery and metaphor. My imagery is drawn from here, and my imagery becomes my metaphor for what I want to say. You could follow me around for a while, and you'd see where my images come from. "*** The poet also draws on her teaching experience and historic public tragedies, such as the Civil War, the destruction of Hiroshima, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Themes in her work include love, isolation, and mortality, death, and grief, as well as time and memory. Written in free verse, Morehead's poems display great attention to craft. 

Maureen Morehead is Kentucky’s Poet Laureate and has authored numerous books of poetry and works on Kentucky.

Artist Statement: In designing a binding for this anthology, I tried to get an overall sense of the author's perspective and style of expression. She often subtly marks a grid or framework of time and space before deftly splashing it with images, bright with color. For example, "I could leave tonight, leave this house to find him… I saw a solitary biplane enter the warbling sun. I saw yellow in the sky's far corners…" The sun is a frequent image as is the red spectrum. A poem can be much like a mosaic of nearly balanced elements as I have depicted on the cover of this lovely book of poetry.

About the Artist: A master of traditional fine bookbinding, Scott Kellar has been working intimately with books for over 40 years. Introduced to bookbinding as a hobby in 1972, his commitment to the craft was immediate. While pursuing a career in book conservation, Scott’s love of books expanded into the realm of design binding, where the art of the binder becomes integral to the book, adding yet another layer of imagery and interpretation to the work of the author. As a result, his artistic works have been featured in book art exhibition venues local, national and international. Awards won include the ‘Coup De Coeur’ award at the Biennale Mondiale de la Reliure D’Art, The Society of Bookbinders Award for Forwarding and the Fine Binding J. Hewit & Sons Ltd. Award. His studio in located in Chicago where he also teaches to share both his skills and vision.

Condition Report: The binding and clamshell box are in FINE condition.

Photographs of the binding, the clamshell box, and the catalogues mentioned in the listing appear in the photo section of the listing.