This is a handmade copy of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. The cover of the book is birch wood decorated with grey milk paint and a hand-drawn design. The 500 pages are made of archival paper so they will not yellow or become brittle with time. The spine features headbands at the head and tail, traditional coptic binding, and a new method I developed to create the M and P. I have seen coptic bound books that feature straight lines, diagonals, and sometimes curves on the spine, and even more rarely, I’ll find a circle. I knew I wanted to do something special for the spine of this book, and I thought, “If lines and curves are possible, why not make a design or letter with them?” So began my endeavor to create new designs with a centuries-old binding method. I look forward to experimenting more with it.

Not only did I design the outside of this book, but I typeset the inside as well. The text is set in Mrs Eaves, a revival of a typeface that was around at the time of Jane Austen. I thought it was appropriate to use a revival typeface in a book that is a revival of a 200 year old story. The type used on the title page is House Holiday; it represents the main character’s personality and handwriting. The text also employs the many ligatures available in Mrs Eaves. Care was taken to improve readability while setting the text.