la Tête Or. Morina Mongin. Original etching by Moucha.

(Paris: Caine, 2017.)

Edition in French; copy no. 8 of 25; signed by the author & artist.

124 x 124 x 12mm

Bound in a modified ‘limp vellum’ technique. Design elements include black embroidery silk tackets, full sheets of gold leaf on the recto and verso underneath the parchment, and black leather endbands. Titled on a dangling piece of parchment on the recto; signed in similar on the verso pastedown. Bound in 2017.

Morina Mongin’s poem pays homage to the act of gilding a top-edge. The very last page of the bookblock contains a leaf of gold under a translucent overlay — the overlay is tipped but the gold leaf sheet is free. I was inspired by this last page and my response was quiet: on the sleeve beneath the parchment cover, I centered a sheet of 23 karat August Rühl gold leaf, both recto and verso. It is subtle, and takes a moment holding the book to see the leaf. I secured the covers with black tackets at the corners of the leaf.