David Borbeau

Florence, Massachusetts
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Bourbeau studied Fine and Applied Arts with a concentration in painting. In 1965, he was introduced to the art of the book by Leonard Baskin at Gehenna Press. After an apprenticeship with Arno Werner he opened the Thistle Bindery in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he works and teaches today. 

Example Binding: 
County Survey.
Text by James Armstrong and Ben Mitchell. Etchings by Ladislav R. Hanka. Typography by Amy Bollinger.
Kalamazoo, Michigan: Rarach Press, 1989.

The text and large landscape etchings are mounted in an album structure. The binding is fermented flax paper decorated with gold lines, paint splatters, and a painted line representing a river. Gray endpapers, blue leather headbands.

Design Description: 
Flax cover binding with 24k gold blocking lines to describe the text. Cover design abstracted from the title page, tooled fly leaves using elements of the cover design, and tri-tone blue silk headbands. Conservation concertina binding construction and a leather preservation box with acrylic window display.