Christine Elizabeth Florence Greenhill (4 May 1907 – 30 December 2006) was an English bookbinder. She did bookbinding following her encouragement from her sister to enrol on bookbinding classes until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out when she became a full-time

air raid warden Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s an ...

and thus had little time to do bookbinding. Greenhill returned to bookbinding soon after the war was over and served as honorary secretary of the Guild of Contemporary Bookbinders before being elected its president for a single term. The

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

has held two collections of boxes relating to her life and career in its Libraries Repository since 2009.

Early life and education

She was born Christine Elizabeth Florence Greenhill into a wealthy family visiting Paris on 4 May 1907. Greenhill was the daughter of the hoteliers Charles Greenhill and Florence Roach. Her paternal grandfather was the German hotelier Karl Grunhold. Greenhill had an elder sister who went on to become a painter and an older brother. As what happened with other families of the time, the family changed their surname to Greenhill during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. She had little experience in school; Greenhill was first educated at

Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventio ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

and first gained experience in using materials inside the workshop of the bookbinder O.S Powell. She went on to spend a few months at a boarding school in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in Italy. Greenhill learnt bookbinding and calligraphy at

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

's Sacred Heart Convent (today the

Digby Stuart College Digby Stuart College is one of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton. The college was established in 1874 as Wandsworth College, a women's teacher training college, by the Roman Catholic Society of the Sacred Heart, an or ...

). She subsequently took bookbinding classes under the French designer binder Pierre Legrain at Ecole des Arts Décoratifs pour Dames in Paris between 1925 and 1927 following encouragement from her sister to matriculate to the school.

Career

Greenhill went back to London in 1927. She matriculated to the

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

and studied bookbinding, calligraphy, drawing and design under

Douglas Cockerell Douglas Bennett Cockerell (1870 – 1945) was a British bookbinder and author. Early life and education Douglas Bennett Cockerell was born on 5 August 1870 in Clifton Cottage, Sydenham in London, England to parents Alice Elizabeth and Sydney J ...

and Peter McLeish. She took evening classes under William Matthews and learnt to repair and re-back books as well as how to cut tools. For a brief period, Greenhill resided in the home of her uncle in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

and setup a small bindery in his attic. There, she undertook run-of-the-mill binding and did repairs and also undertook major concessions such as the Gloucester Civic Bible produced for

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

's and

Mary of Teck Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 Janua ...

's Silver Jubilee in 1935. Greenhill's early customers included

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...

and

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...

. In 1937, she established a workshop in

Essex Street Essex Street is a north-south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, which goes north to 14th Street. South of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street, the ...

and was sent trade-bookbinding people to assist in finishing and forwarding. Following the outbreak of the

, Greenhill had little time to do bookbinding because she had become a full-time

. She moved to Norfolk to convalesce from ill health in 1944 and went back to London in the following year. When the war was over, Greenhill returned to full-time bookbinding. She established a bindery in the family home in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

. Greenhill bound for the collector J.R. Abbey and worked to restore Chevening libraries. She began giving private lessons in 1950 and encouraged young people by awarding an annual award for gold-tooling in sponsored competitions. Greenhill was the first women to be elected to the Guild of Contemporary Bookbinders (now called Designer Bookbinders) in 1961. When the River Arno flooded in 1966, she flew to Florence twice to assist the British squad in a large, desolate hall at the Biblioteca Nazionale to repair thousands of books damaged by mud and water left from the floodwaters. Greenhill served as honorary secretary of the Guild of Contemporary Bookbinders from 1967 to 1974 before she was elected to a single term as the guild's first women president in 1975 and remained president until 1978. She held Guild meetings in her drawing room and was appointed an honorary Fellow of Designer Bookbinders in 1985. The following year, K.D. Duval published the catalogue raisonne of her work ''Elizabeth Greenhill Bookbinder''. Greenhill retired from bookbindery in 1984 due to deteriorating eyesight.

Death

On 30 December 2006, Greenhill died in a London nursing home months before her 100th birthday. She was unmarried.

Approach and legacy

Greenhill made more than 100 bindings in the colours of blue, green, mauve and purple. The

has held two collections of boxes relating to her life and career in its Libraries Repository since 2009. They include her works, personal correspondence and materials from 1935 to 1983.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenhill, Elizabeth 1907 births 2006 deaths Designers from London English people of German descent People educated at Bedales School Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Bookbinders