🙞 Teleport Books 🙜

Mo Du

by Priest

This is rainsfalling’s typeset of Mo Du by priest, from 2024’s cnovel bookbinding exchange. I love the idea of binding other people’s typesets so I can read something for the first time in hard copy, but this is the first time I’ve done it with a novel rather than with fic (priest’s track record is such that I could count on it being worth the effort).

Of course, binding things I haven’t read makes for an interesting design challenge. Here is what I knew about Mo Du: police/mystery, there’s a cat in this one too, and chapter titles that reference classic literature. So … I went with the cat, found this paper at a shop in Ithaca, NY last summer, happened to find this plaid fabric on the same shopping trip at a fabric reuse store and thought it paired nicely with the paper, then built the books around that combo.

I didn't want to cover up a lot of the fabric with the titles, so I ended up printing very small paper labels that could blend and join in with the plaid fabric. They're placed at different levels for books one, two, and three.

The edges are painted gold, and the endbands are made of more of the same plaid fabric. I'm using up some scrap fashion leather for the spines.

Please note that this is a personal binding made for my own use and enjoyment and no money has been made from this project.