Sangorski & Sutcliffe is a firm of bookbinders established in London in 1901. It is considered to be one of the most important bookbinding companies of the 20th century, famous for its luxurious jeweled bindings that used real gold and precious stones in their book covers. Sangorski & Sutcliffe was established by Francis Sangorski (1875–1912) and George Sutcliffe (1878–1943). They had met in 1896 at a bookbinding evening classes taught by Douglas Cockerell at the London County Council's Central School of Arts and Crafts. In 1898, Sangorski and Sutcliffe each won one of the ten annual craft scholarship awards, giving them £20 a year for three years to continue their training as apprentice bookbinders. They were employed at Cockerell's own bindery, and began to teach bookbinding at Camberwell College of Art. They were laid off in 1901 after a coal strike caused an economic slump, and they decided to set up on their own in a rented attic 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 ...

, starting on 1 October 1901. They soon moved to

Vernon Place Vernon Place, also known as the Cowper-Taylor House, is a historic plantation house located near Como, Hertford County, North Carolina. It is dated to the late-1820s, and is a two-story, five-bay, T-plan, transitional Federal / Greek Revival fram ...

, and then, in 1905, to Southampton Row. Sangorski's elder brother,

Alberto Sangorski Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

(1862–1932), worked for the firm. He became an accomplished calligrapher and

illuminator Illuminator may refer to: * A light source * Limner, an illustrator of manuscripts * Illuminator radar * The Illuminator, a political art collective based in New York City * Illuminator (Marvel Comics), a Christian superhero appearing in America ...

, working for Rivière from 1910. They quickly revived the art of

jewelled bookbinding A treasure binding or jewelled bookbinding is a luxurious book cover using metalwork in gold or silver, jewels, or ivory, perhaps in addition to more usual bookbinding material for book-covers such as leather, velvet, or other cloth. The actua ...

s, decorating their sumptuous multi-colour leather book bindings with gold inlay and precious and semi-precious jewels. They were commissioned to create a most luxurious binding of the '' Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam'', the front cover of which was adorned with three golden peacocks with jewelled tails and surrounded by heavily tooled and gilded vines, that was sent on the ill-fated RMS ''Titanic'' in 1912. The book, known as the

Great Omar Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

, sank with the ship and has not been recovered. Shortly afterwards, Sangorski drowned. Sutcliffe continued the firm, which became recognised as one of the leading bookbinders in London. The bindery moved to Poland Street, and managed to survive through the First World War, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the Second World War, and post-war austerity. In this period, it undertook work for the

Ashendene Press The Ashendene Press was a small private press founded by St John Hornby (1867–1946). It operated from 1895 to 1915 in Chelsea, London and was revived after the war in 1920. The press closed in 1935. Its peers included the Kelmscott Press and t ...

, Golden Cockerel Press and the J. & E. Bumpus bookshop. It also created miniature books for Queen Mary's Dolls' House. After Sutcliffe suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

in 1936, he entrusted the business to his nephew,

Stanley Bray Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

(1907–1995), who had worked for his uncle since 1926. The company merged with HT Woods in 1939, bringing Kenneth Hobson to the firm. He introduced a more modern style of binding. Bray inherited the company on Sutcliffe's death. The firm merged again in 1988, joining with

Zaehnsdorf Joseph Zaehnsdorf (27 February 1816 – 7 November 1886), was a bookbinder. Zaehnsdorf was the son of Gottlieb Zaehnsdorf, of Pesth in Austria-Hungary, where he was born and educated. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to Herr Knipe, a book ...

's bindery in Bermondsey (established by Joseph Zaehnsdorf in 1842). The combined business was bought by Asprey in 1985 and renamed SSZ Limited. Shepherds, a bookbinding company, bought the company from Asprey in 1998, and revived the Sangorski & Sutcliffe name. The bindery recently moved from its premises in Bermondsey to

Rochester Row Rochester Row is a street in the City of Westminster in London that runs between Greycoat Place in the north and Vauxhall Bridge Road in the south. It is joined by Greycoat Street, Rochester Street, Vincent Square, Emery Hill Street, Vane Str ...

. A second copy of the Omar Khayyam was bound as World War II broke out and this was placed in a bank safe vault for safe keeping, but enemy bombing destroyed the vault and the second copy. Stanley Bray after his retirement made a third version of the binding using the original design, this is now in the British Library.

References

*http://www.bookbinding.co.uk/History.htm *http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituarystanley-bray-1322465.html Obituary of Stanley Bray, 5 January 1996 *http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m0rb1
Alberto Sangorski, Illuminated, Morte De Arthur, Prayers by Robert Louis Stevenson.

References

Further reading