Jan Sobota

Loket, Czech Republic 
From 1954 to 1957, Sobota studied at the School for Applied Arts in Prague and apprenticed in the studios of Karel Silinger in Plzen and Emil Pertak in Prague. In 1969 he received the title “Master of Applied Arts” in Czechoslovakia and eight years later the title “Meister der Einbandkunst” in Germany. Sobota’s work has been shown at 160 exhibitions of four continents. He regularly lectures for bookbinders in the United States and in Europe. He is the author of five professional publications, and his work has been published in many international journals and books.

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.

Sobota’s box binding structure with doubled boards and a middle opening. Green, blue, and brown goatskin. Application of leather and colored Japanese paper. Hand printing in blue. Gold tooling. Roughly-sewn headbands depict ship ropes.

Design Description: 
Triple cover board, Sobota’s binding structure. Leather-tooled double headbands. Silver multi-metallic top edge. Boards covered in dark blue paper made of leather-maché, light blue French calfbox, with the title in relief, gold tooling and application, and batique suede pigskin. Brass plate on spine engraved with the author’s name. Brass clasp on front edge engraved with the author’s portrait. Edges covered with gold leather. Doublures of batique suede pigskin. Fly leaves are light blue paper made of leather-mache. The design depicts the “fictitious” soul of the text and the illustrations, which the author also suggests in the title of the book.