Book Binding

Dynamics of the Pleistocene Climate Observation & Theory by Kirk Maasch

This is a bound copy of a dissertation from Yale University in the year 1989. It was written by my father, Kirk Allen Maasch, for his PhD thesis as a candidate in Yale’s geology department. Kirk’s graduating year was the last year that Yale printed and bound all PhD graduates' thesis to be added to the department's library. The school gave each student a swatchbook of the available book cloth available from the bindery and each student was to choose a color. The only colors ever chosen were either black or Yale’s characteristic navy blue, the rare dark green, but my father decided to be his bold self and chose something completely different. Among the bookshelves are dozens of natural tones lined up and one stripe of hot pink.

I decided to print and bind his writings into a book during my final year at North Bennet Street School as one of my practice full leather English bindings. It was a project I took on to thank him for his support of my education and dreams, and I was proud to be able to hand it to him on my graduation day. It is bound in the intensely vibrant Harmatan E-O Pink goatskin with a navy goatskin title piece on the spine. Hand tooled with rose gold leaf. The cover design is an enlarged copy of a chart within the text, a graphing style my father is well known for in his field. Formatted by Spike Minogue from a copy of a copy of a copy… of a xerox of Kirk’s original printed thesis. End sheets are handmade traditional watercolor marbled paper.

2024