© by Diana Bychkova and Stepan Romanyshyn
30th May 2026
Work created: late 2022 - early 2023
held at the Archives and Special Collections, Western Libraries
Video editing: Ethan O'Regan
This precious volume of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, published in 1856 and held in the Special Collections of Weldon Library at Western University, is illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait and bound in its original green cloth with a stamped title. The spine bears a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson.
At some point in the book’s history, the quotation was covered with a library label. Because removing the label would have damaged the original binding, the decision was made to create a custom protective case that would preserve and repeat the quotation while also enhancing the reader’s experience of the book.
The drawer of the case was made from hardwood—Brazilian cherry (jatoba)—using traditional hand-crafted techniques that require neither screws nor nails, relying instead on precisely fitted joints and glue. The individual wooden components were assembled into a solid structure by inserting each piece into pre-cut slots and recesses, much like completing a puzzle.
The outer case was also made from hardwood. Additional carved wooden elements were attached to create the raised bands traditionally found on book spines and to form a decorative frame on the cover, designed to receive a leather panel with embossed relief prints.
The spine was conceived to imitate the appearance of an actual nineteenth-century binding. It repeats the book title and Emerson quotation while incorporating decorative motifs related to the cover design. These patterns were engraved by hand into a woodblock, creating the printing matrix required for embossing the design onto leather.
Once the relief was impressed into the calfskin, the leather covering was carefully attached to the spine so that the raised bands would remain clearly defined and visually convincing. The entire case was then covered in leather that had been specially prepared to achieve the required thickness. The leather was gradually worked over the surface with traditional tools to reveal every contour and detail of the underlying structure.
The wooden sides of the box were polished and waxed before being inserted into pre-formed slots, allowing the drawer containing the book to slide smoothly and fit securely within the outer case.
I was taught that a bookmaker should be both an artisan, capable of producing every technical component of a book, and an artist, capable of interpreting its content. Without interpretation, this case might have become little more than a replica of a nineteenth-century binding decorated with conventional ornament.
My intention was to retain the visual language of the Victorian period while introducing a contemporary artistic response. In this way, the finished work could create a dialogue between the present day and the period in which Whitman’s poems were written.
The cover design was inspired primarily by the poem To Think of Time. Rather than illustrating a specific poem or narrative scene, the image seeks to evoke the atmosphere, emotional movement, and rhythmic qualities of Whitman’s writing. Conceived almost as a form of visual calligraphy, the design incorporates flying leaves, two-colour leather incrustations, and embossed relief elements.
The drawing was mirrored, transferred onto a woodblock, and carved using the woodcut technique to create a printing matrix. Under pressure, this matrix was used to emboss the design into leather. The resulting relief panel was then inserted into the prepared frame on the cover.
The decorative fittings and clasp were developed directly from the cover design. They were cut from brass and engraved using etching techniques before being attached to the case with brass nails. The clasp was fixed to the drawer with a small leather strap, helping to keep the case securely closed.
As a final stage, the lettering embossed into the leather was gilded by hand using a size-0 brush and completed under magnification.
The finished case now houses and protects Whitman’s historic volume while offering a contemporary interpretation of its literary spirit.
If you have a rare book, manuscript leaf, or special item that would benefit from a custom case or artistic binding, I welcome inquiries about commissions. Please contact me at: info@dsartistrylabs.com