I'm just completing the gilding for this years Grimoire commission and was thinking if I was a script writer this could make an amazing spooky film as it is called "The Grimoire of God". I thought it just maybe the follow up film to Mr. Polanski's Ninth Gate (which I also create in a genuine 17thC style).....only far more serious! All of the tooling is created with only pallets and gauges. A pallet is a straight lined tool of different sizes, and a gauge is a curved tool of different sizes....ie a circle is formed of 4 impressions of 1 half circle gauge. It's called The Grimoire of God because the recto (front) cover contains the Sigillum dei Aemeth...created by the 16thC Magician and physican to Queen Elizabeth I Dr.John Dee, from the description given by the Archangel Uriel to Edward Kelly....also known as "The Booke of Enoch"....The Aemeth sigillum reveals or conceals the greatest name of God that can undo creation....and supposedly being factual .....the film Warlock has the same theme but this is real and all the seals are actual and not made up. Also present are the 4 Cardinal Angels and the main pentacles and Olympic Spirits from The Greater Key of Salomon...or The Clavicle. The verso side of the book though is a complete mirror image of the front except it contains the Sigillum dei Lucifer, the 4 Cardinal Demons and the main demonic Kings, Duke's Earl's and Marquis' of Hell....or most of the 72 fallen angels. There are also present 56 of the 72 Hebrew names of God, the angelic and demonic Lamens, plus the true names of the 7 Archangels who stand before the Lord at the End of Days and the common names they are known by. A Latin versicle embraces the whole of the book around the outside edges, the inside and the very edges of the boards are hand lettered in Latin also....,., Just an idea I'd thought I'd share :)
1st edition of Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene 1611with inlays by Paul Tronson ....showing the various stages of tooling.
The 2014 Avenging Angel Grimoire with inlays by Paul Tronson. The ultimate grimoire for the spookiest film ;) You can see it in its full glory here http://periodfinebindings.typepad.com/the_avenging_angel_grimoi/ 8000 impressions of 4000 tools were used to gild this one.
1st ed Paradise Lost by Paul Tronson
1st ed Sussanah Moodies by Paul Tronson
Cambridge paneled calf by Paul Tronson
Genevan Bible bound in the style of Elizabeth I royal binder, by Paul Tronson
1/2 calf with hand marbled sides by Paul Tronson
1st ed Silas Marner by Paul Tronson
3 cambridge bindings by Paul Tronson
1st ed Dugdale's Antiquities a royal binding by Paul Tronson
4 Cambridge bindings by Paul Tronson
Masonic VSL by Paul Tronson
Gilt spines by Paul Tronson
1st ed Don Quixote by Paul Tronson
1/2 calf with spine onlay by Paul Tronson
Me hard at it !
1st ed Dickens library by Paul Tronson
This is a private investment library I'm building
The return on investment for rare books and fine art is around 12% per year.
The 5 Christmas stories by Dickens ...all 1st issues by Paul Tronson
Work in progress by Paul Tronson
Finish tooling the spines, then hand letter and date the spines in gold leaf
Part of the Dickens library
hand gilt spines by Paul Tronson
1st ed Christmas Carol by Paul Tronson
Gothic binding by Paul Tronson
Mediaeval binding by Paul Tronson
Round pleated corners by Paul Tronson
Half calf with hand marbled sides by Paul Tronson
18thC binding by Paul Tronson
Cambridge Panelled Calf 1701 by Paul Tronson
Half calf with hand marbled sides by Paul Tronson
Fermented black plums with red cherries and cochineal by Paul Tronson
Cambridge panelled calf by Paul Tronson
17thC French binding using 4 veg colours by Paul Tronson
The Ninth Gate by Paul Tronson
Masonic VSL by Paul Tronson
6 1st issue Dickens by Paul Tronson
A collection of fine bindings bound by Paul Tronson
A new investment library of 16th - 19thC books I am building and restoring.
5 steps to Heaven. The first English translation of the Pentateuch, restored and re-bound to period by Paul Tronson
3 recent commissions by Paul Tronson
Nonus Porta by Paul Tronson
The Ninth Gate by Paul Tronson
17thC Panelled calf by Paul Tronson
Guardian Angel Grimoire by Paul Tronson
Royal bindings by Paul Tronson
Archangel Grimoire by Paul Tronson