About Us

www.FALKINERS.com

76 Southampton Row,

London WC1B 4AR

part of Shepherds Bookbinders

www.bookbinding.co.uk

Falkiner Fine Papers was founded over 30 years ago and was originally located in Covent Garden on Long Acre. About 20 years ago we moved to our current location, 76 Southampton Row. We have recently expanded our operation onto two floors to allow for our ever expanding range of products and services.

When Falkiners was first founded we specialised in artists' papers. As time has moved on, so have we. We still specialise in papers of course but now we carry a formidable range of bookbinding materials and conservation supplies amongst other things.

The Shepherds Group includes the Sangorski & Sutcliffe Bindery, established in 1901 and the Zaehnsdorf Bindery, established in 1842.

There are few firms of craft bookbinders still working that can claim an existence of longer than one hundred years. One which can is Zaehnsdorf, founded in 1842 by Joseph Zaehnsdorf. Many interesting records and memorabilia are preserved by the company, the earliest going back more that 140 years. These include a light hearted binding titled "How Not To Spell Zaehnsdorf", a collection of correspondence to and from the company where the companies name has been misspell, the last entry from our own Managing Director! A more poignant collection are letters to the company from employees fighting in the Great War, many of whom must not have returned.

It was founded on the skill and perseverance of an immigrant binder. For over one hundred years it has adhered to the tenets of fine workmanship, successively under Zaehnsdorf's guidance and then that of his son and grandson. Bindings produced by the firm of Zaehnsdorf are still admired for the excellence of the craftsmanship which they display, and whilst, in the main, their designs rely on the inspiration of the past, innovative essays into more contemporary styles were made on a few occasions.

Bound in brown morocco with gilt fillet borders and pointillé and blind-stamped ornaments. Raised spine bands. Gilt title, fillets, pointillé and ornaments on spine. Top edge gilt.
Signed binding. Tooled in gilt: Bound by Zaehnsdorf 1895.

In 1896, two bookbinding apprentices, Francis Sangorski and George Sutcliffe, met at the classes given at the Central School of Arts and Crafts by Douglas Cockerell. Cockerell was then working at the Doves Bindery for T.J. Cobden - Sanderson, whose revolutionary designs inspired the two young men. In 1898 they joined Cockerell when he founded his own bindery, and three years later left to set up on their own.

From the start Sangorski & Sutcliffe's work was original design. They became famous for their elaborate bindings encrusted with gilt work and precious stones. Francis's brother Alberto Sangorski was a more than competent painter and calligrapher, and the firm could execute the inside as well as the outside of the books that bore their name.

Most famous of these books was a copy of the Rubaiyait of Omar Khayyam that Sangorski designed, which took the bindery two years to complete. With three peacocks in the middle surrounded by vine sprays, a snake in an apple-tree, roses and poppies, the whole worked in leather and jewels, it was a masterpiece of its kind. The image below has been digitally reproduced from the original plans and drawings found in our archive.

Sangorski & Sutcliffe’s jewelled binding of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Click for a larger image.

This magnificent binding was lost when the Titanic went down in 1912. In this same fateful year Francis Sangorski was drowned in a bathing accident.

George Sutcliffe was thus left as the sole owner of the firm Sangorski & Sutcliffe. In 1924 Stanley Bray, a young man of 17, joined his uncle. He was extremely adept and quickly learnt his craft and went on to be his uncle's right hand man.

Bray would attempt anything and nothing was too much trouble. He took over from Sutcliffe, his uncle, when he died in 1943. He continued to work in the company until 1985.

Coincidentally, both binderies have their original foundations in the immediate area of Bloomsbury. Sangorski & Sutcliffe were actually based on Southampton Row in 1905, only a stones throw from our current location.

Bound in yellow morocco with Japanese decorative endpapers and gilt edges. An abstract design decorates the cover in onlays of maroon, green and black, with blind and gilt tooling. The title is onlayed on the spine. Housed in a leather entry slipcase to complement the binding. Click for a larger image.

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892). The Lady of Shalott. Manuscript on vellum, illuminated by Alberto Sangorski. c 1910.

Although Tennyson’s romantic poem The Lady of Shalott is set in the medieval realm of Camelot, the calfskin binding inlaid with colored goatskin evokes the floral opulence of Islamic art. The six-pointed recessed panel on the upper cover, containing eight opals around a single carnelian, serves as a handsome centerpiece, while the contrast between the turquoise arabesque shapes with cream bellflowers and the surrounding black fields of leafy red roses creates the effect of cornerpieces. On the lower cover, this design is echoed by fields of gilt roses on turquoise.

We supply everyone from art students, professional artists, architects, graphic designers, film prop buyers, bookbinders, calligraphers, museums, universities, schools, amateurs, origami artists, paper makers, arts & crafts enthusiasts, fashion designers, even pop stars!

We will supply anyone who wants a piece of paper. We sell single sheets and mill packs.

Whatever you want to buy you can be assured that you will always be given the highest level of service and the best advice we can.

A range of hand-made conservation papers by Ruscombe Mill. These sheets have been made to faithfully reproduce historical papers found in books and works of art.

We carry an extraordinary range of papers from 6p to £30 for a single sheet. We have the most basic drawing papers to the most exquisite hand-made Japanese decorative papers, we are always building our portfolio. We have recently become the official supplier for The Japanese Paper Place of Canada which gives us access to the finest papers available from Japan.

As lovers of the finest sheets we are active in the support of widening the awareness of the craft involved in producing these beautiful papers. The paper below, a Chiyogami, is now produced by only two studios in Japan.

These papers are now produced in one studio in Japan. They are made through a process of stencilling and resist dying. A "kata", or horse-hair stencil is used when applying a gelatine type substance to the surface. After the gelatine is dried, pigment is applied to the paper. The pigment is absorbed into the paper wherever there is no gelatine, thus producing the print. This process is laborious and exacting. The patterns are based on traditional kimono designs and often trade marks of actors and singers and originate from the Edo period.

Our papers are sourced from a variety of locations throughout the world. Some are handmade and as such cannot always be guaranteed to be in stock, but we do try our best. Our range of Japanese paper is probably the finest in the country, from mass made factory sheets to papers made by one family on the side of a mountain in the Japanese countryside. Sadly, as some of these families or individuals retire or pass away these sheets become unavailable, similarly, as energy costs around the world some paper mills cease to operate.

A Curwen Press paper, printed exclusively for Shepherds. This is Paul Nash's Crocus design from 1925. Click for a detailed image

When we were bought by The Shepherds Group we moved our bookbinding supplies operation from Rochester Row to Falkiners. This means that we are able to offer a comprehensive selection of materials to the professional and amateur alike. Not only can you now choose your tools and bookcloths but also your page papers and decorative end-papers.

Our range of end-papers range are extensive. Choose from plain, machine made papers to hand marbled sheets. Some of these marbled sheets were commissioned by Shepherds as historical reproductions for faithful conservation.

A reproduction Italian 17th Century hand marbled paper and a silk-screened Victorian patterned paper. Click for a detailed image.

Our staff are trained by the Shepherds Bindery in the basic art of bookbinding and so are able to advise in many instances for methods and material choices. We don't pretend to be experts but if we unable to answer a question we do have direct access to the bindery where our team of unsurpassed craftsmen and women are always able to give an answer when we get stuck!

We carry a great range of conservation storage supplies, calligraphy items, paper making equipment, stationary, hand-made photograph albums and journals, decorative boxes, paper perforators, second-hand presses and tools, adhesives, brushes, books, origami papers and much more.

You can commission almost anything at Falkiners, from thesis bindings, fine bindings, portfolios, bespoke stationary, boxes, slip cases, photograph albums, even your own decorative Japanese papers.