Lewis & Clark Journals Codex A & B

A facsimile of the sketchbooks carried by the Lewis & Clark expedition; now housed in the special collections of the American Philosophical Society . Codex A covered May through August of 1804, and Codex B carried on to early October. In oblong format, these are an excellent representation of the common sketch books and journals of the day. Textblock 6 ½” by 3 ¾”, oblong, 192 pages. Dark red leather spine and corners, marbled paper sides, plain endpapers. The pages are a cream white 60# text with a vellum finish, a modern paper with the right tone and toothiness (a paper geek’s word for texture) for these nineteenth century journals. These can, of course, be made with handmade paper, should your tastes be more exacting. (Please contact us for particulars.)

Details for Book Geeks and Other Curious Folk; Having spent near 20 years in the book restoration business, we decided not to slavishly copy the original binding method. The heavy raised bands found on medieval books and into the 18th century had been, by 1804, largely replaced with  very thin cords laid into notches cut into the textblock. This saved lots of time in the bindery, but has created a lot of work for book restorers when the sewing gave out. We’d like your book to last longer than you, so used a transitional method involving sewing the pages to cloth strips called tapes. You can feel these tapes under the pastedowns inside the front cover. If you have an opportunity to look at a commercially bound book from the 1800’s, you can often see the cords and notches by looking deep into the inner margins.

Price: $85. (Additional colors and sizes here)