Girl with a Pearl Earring — Rebound in Cloth
Made to order — allow ten business days for binding.
Tracy Chevalier's novel invents a life for the girl in Vermeer's portrait: Griet, a maid in the painter's house in Delft in the 1660s, who becomes his assistant and then his subject.
This copy began as a used trade paperback. I've taken off the cover, reinforced the text block, cut new binder's board, and cased it into navy bookcloth by hand. The title and author are pressed in gold on the front and spine, and a line from the novel on the back.
Set into the front board is a printed panel of Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring", painted around 1665 and hanging in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The original is smaller than most people picture it — 44.5 by 39 centimetres. On the other books in this shop the painting is an interpretation. Here it is the subject.
The original paperback cover is cut down and finished as a bookmark, and ships inside the book.
Made individually, after you order — allow about 10 business days for binding. Approximately 5.5 x 8.5 inches in navy cloth with decorative blue endpapers. Wrapped in tissue with a handwritten card.
The text block is a genuine used paperback from Southern California, and it carries the signs of having been read :)
How it's made
The paperback is taken apart, the text block reinforced, fresh binder's board cut, and the whole cased into cotton bookcloth by hand. Title and author pressed in gold on the spine. Decorative endpapers and a paper bookmark complete the charm.
Every copy is made individually. Small variations in the cloth, the grain, and the placement of the artwork are part of how it's made :)
Making and shipping
Each book is bound after you order it. Please allow ten business days before it ships. Every order arrives wrapped in tissue with a handwritten note card — add a message at checkout and I'll write it in :)
