{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1811391"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1811391/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PP7887/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PP7887/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PP7887","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PP7888","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PP7891","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PP7892","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PP7889","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PP7890","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PP7886","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PP7893","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1811391","accessionNumber":"38041025016387","objectType":"Book","titles":[{"title":"A grammar of British geography","type":"published title"}],"summaryDescription":"This early 19th-century book has been rebound in 2025 in a contemporary binding designed by Argentinian bookbinder Sol Rébora. \r\nSol explained how she came up with the design: ' I aimed to create a binding style that reflects the original concept of its edition: a study text that evokes the context of international competition in which Britain sourced raw materials and created markets for its manufactured goods. The binding features a subtle composition in shades of yellow, grey, and brown. I used the image of the first map ... to generate a visual pattern, transforming it into a classical image that combines flowers with crowns, evoking the crown of the British Empire. The covers, made with cloth and textured Japanese paper overlaid with a tulle pattern, give the book the appearance of an everyday object—delicate yet elegant at the same time.' \r\nThis binding is part of a commission from binders affiliated with the Tomorrow's Past group. Tomorrow's Past are an international collective of bookbinders founded in 2003; their approach to the rebinding of antiquarian books combines respect of the book's original structure with a contemporary sensibility. ","physicalDescription":"i, [2], 316 pages, 7 leaves of plates, some folded : illustrations (engraved maps, five signed 'Neele sculp.', dated Nov. 1, 1813; unsigned woodcut vignettes in text).\r\nContents: \r\nBound in at front: Entire new school books : published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. 4 pages.\r\nCatalogue of improved elementary school-books, p. 302-316.\r\n\nBinding and box by Sol Rébora, 2025, for a series of works commissioned from binders affiliated with the Tomorrow's Past group, by the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum.\nThe box comprises a drawer which contains: \n- the book's former leather covered boards\n- two cards providing samples of the materials used by the binder and a visual explanation of how the design on the cover was generated by using the first map in the book as a repeated and overlapping motif.  \n- remains of the original sewing threads ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Phillips, Richard (Sir)","id":"N1161"},"association":{"text":"author","id":"AAT25492"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Phillips, Richard (Sir)","id":"N1161"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"x32600"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Rébora, Sol","id":"AUTH410742"},"association":{"text":"bookbinder","id":"AAT25704"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Tomorrow's Past","id":"AUTH410743"},"association":{"text":"bookbinder","id":"AAT25704"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"card","id":"x30344"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"thread","id":"AAT14250"},{"text":"cloth","id":"AAT162391"},{"text":"fabric","id":"AAT162391"}],"techniques":[{"text":"printing","id":"AAT53319"},{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53225"},{"text":"bookbinding","id":"AAT53592"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Bookbinding","id":"THES253015"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"NAL","id":"THES48605"},"images":["2026PP7887","2026PP7888","2026PP7891","2026PP7892","2026PP7889","2026PP7890","2026PP7886","2026PP7893"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"NAL","id":"THES251738"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Book","id":"AAT28051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1816","earliest":"1816-01-01","latest":"1816-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"150","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Accessioned in 2025 as part of a series of works commissioned from binders affiliated with the Tomorrow's Past group, by the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Book, A grammar of British geography: being a general description of the British Empire in all parts of the world, by the Rev. J. Goldsmith (i.e. Sir Richard Phillips), London: Printed by W. Lewis, St John's Square, for Richard Phillips; and sold by J. Souter, no. 1, Paternoster-Row, and all booksellers, 1816 (4th edition).","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"This mass-produced printed book is made unique by the bespoke binding which was commissioned for it in 2025. ","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["38041025016387"],"accessionNumberNum":"38041025016387","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"NAL Pressmark","id":"THES56809"},"number":"801.BC.0013"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-14","recordCreationDate":"2025-10-23","availableToBook":false}}