Sylvia R. Alotta

Berwyn, Illinois 
An industrial designer, Alotta was inspired to study bookbinding after receiving two United States patents for a journal system. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia College Chicago in book and paper arts, and established The Sharpest Pencil Bindery and Letterpress Studio working as designer. She continues to study fine design binding under Scott Kellar, and has taught and exhibited nationally and internationally. She is now an executive committee member of the Guild of Book Workers.

Example Binding: 
Jules Verne. 
Le Tour Du Monde En Quatre-Vingts Jours.
Illustrated by De Neuville and L. Bennett, printed by Jean-Francois Manier, Chambon-sur-Lignon (Haute-Loire).
St Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, France: Biennales Mondiales de la Reliure D’Art, 2004.

Full leather, chocolate goatskin, in a traditional laced-on boards binding. Paste paper ends. Sewn headbands, blind tooling. Leather onlays. Pocket watch with altered face showing authors’ name and time at which Fogg arrives at club attached to cover and back boards. Fore edge painted black and waxed.

Design Description: 
Borges’ eyes have been chosen from the line drawing for a unifying element of the content and the cover. The “eyes” would be cast and covered with leather and attached to the cover. The stamped and foiled ambigram on the back is symbolic of literary genius. Titles of the short stories would be letterpressed on handmade paper in small and cramped handwritten typeface similar to the actual handwriting.