Edge Marbling

As readers of the Libre Livre blog will know, we have recently been appointed as the official UK retailer for Marbled Arts, a specialist marbling business based near Florence. As well as superb marbled paper, Marbled Arts also provide an edge marbling service available to customers of Libre Livre - contact us via our website for further details

Letterpress Priting in Florence

When we were in Florence recently we stumbled across a letterpress printing business - nobody there spoke any English, and my Italian is non-existent, but they were very generous and allowed me to walk freely around the workshop taking photos

The south of France

The Libre Livre team has just returned from a trip to Italy. Our route went over the Alps to Florence, then back along the cost to Nice, and north through Aix en Provence. Just outside Aix are a number of ancient "perched" villages more or less indistinguiahable one from another - which is my way of saying I can;t remember exactly where this picture was taken.

Heading East

A friend of mine is shortly heading East, and I am rather hoping - fingers crossed - that she might be able to bring me back a few Chinese brass picture hooks as shown in this picture.

Another mystery

Many of the houses in central Normandy are timber framed. This contributes to their idiosyncrasy and charm. Invariably I find myself wondering what lies inside each door, behind each window....

Scroll Book

This picture shows the innards of one of our little scroll books.

Scroll Books

At Libre Livre we like to let our hair down once in a while and produce items more for fun than profit. These little scroll books, made using our marbled paper and measuring just 4 by 7 cm, are ideal for limericks or short stories and messages.

High Beeches

Mid-Sussex is home to some magnificent gardens, Sheffield Park and Nymans are owned by the National Trust, and 3 of my great favourites Wakehurst Place, Leaonards Lea and High Beeches were all created by the Loder family. The acidic soil is good for azaleas and rhododendrons.

This picture was taken in High Beeches last month.

Aquilegia in our garden.

Colouring Book?

At Libre Livre we like our books to be functional and fun.

A window in Les Andelys

Wooden spine

Another version of the Secret Belgian binding, this time with a wooden spine (Douglas Fir).

At Libre Livre we enjoy working with wood which contributes to the fresh simple appeal of our notebooks and albums.

Secret Belgian binding

The "Secret Belgian Binding" makes a good showcase for some marbled paper made in the Libre Livre workshop

Our Workshop

We are often asked about our workshop in the Old Beards brewery, Star Brewery in Lewes. Here it is.

Our entrance is in th small yellow section towards the back of the picture.

Lewes

The Libre Livre workshop is located in Lewes, one of the most beautiful towns in the south of England, whose history goes back to and beyond the medieval period.

This picture is taken from the edge of the battle field where Simon de Montfort defeated King Henry 111 in 1264.

The Forest of Lyons

The forest of Lyons is composed of endless shadows and shafts of light that lock together into a dynamic jigsaw.

It is the largest remaining beech forest in western Europe, home to deer, boar, snakes, red squirrels and myriad birds

Scotney Castle

Scotney Castle is one of the loveliest National Trust properties in the South East.

A couple of yeas ago I was lucky enough to spend a week there helping with the conservation of the books in the splendid library.

Collection Care is a topic of particular interest to us at Libre Livre and will form the basis of a new product we will be introducing later this year.

the Head Marbler

Our Head Marbler is not one to let the grass grow under her feet

Bois Guilbert

The chateau of Bois Guilbert lies about an hour south of Dieppe, near Buchy.

Its gardens are a sculpture park, a showcase for the work of Jean Marc de Pas, whose sculptures are perfectly suited to the woods, lakes and lawns.

Happy Chinese New Year to all our customers

Butterfly restaurant

Autumn days in France - where the food always seems that bit better than in the UK - we visited Jardin Plume, near rouen.

How strange that butterflies, sublime and delicate, should get such pleasure from rotten apples.

A ship of the desert

Just in case any reader of this blog, overwhelmed by Thesiger's great photos, thinks the Libre Livre team haven't seen their share of the ships of the desert.....

Lots of pots

Some of my favourite black and white photos were taken by Wilfrid Thesiger on his travels in Arabia and Pakistan.

This is not one of them. I took it in the potting shed of the chateau of Vandrimare, close to Rouen. Not the most challenging environment - but I dare say I ate better on my travels than Wilfrid did on his.

Another tree from Sheffield Park, one of the great mid-Sussex gardens.

Sussex is home to a number of magnificent landscape gardens, some owned by the National Trust, but many in private hands, open from time to time. Click to see some other images from Sussex Gardens

Even in mid-winter the variety of textures and shapes makes every walk a pleasure.

I was recently looking at some of the landscape photography of James Ravilious, son of the great artist Eric Ravilious.

James' beautiful pictures are particularly interesting as they are black and white, not the most obvious medium to use for landscape.

For those who are interested, more of James' pictures can be found here: Ravilious gallery

The picture above, of an acer in winter, was taken this morning at Sheffield Park

Hay Bluff

This picture shows the section of Offa's Dyke known as Hay Buff, just a few minutes drive from Hay-onWye, reknowned for its wonderful bookshops (around 30) and the Hay Literary Festival.

Down the the valley to the right lies Capel y Ffin, where Eric Gill the great type designer and sculptor moved sometime after leaving Ditchling.

The Libre Livre team is firmly rooted in Sussex, but if we ever were to make a move the Marches would be high on our list of possible alternatives.