Scott K. Kellar Design Bindings

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1939: The Lost World of the Fair by David Gerlernter Bound 2009 The New York World's Fair in 1939 was world-event at the height of the Art Deco period. Technology and Art were synthesized and boldly vibrant. This design reflects that exciting moment, with motifs drawn from the Perisphere and Trylon at the center of the Fair.	Water (an anthology of poems) Bound in 2009. Sewn over four stranded cords with aqua Napalese endsheets. Red silk endbands with edges sprinkled salmon. Covered in aqua buffalo leather. Onlays of goatskin and gilt leather. The mesmerizing interplay of reflected/refracted light with underwater objects, visually throbbing and magnified, is the theme of this design.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Illustrated by Barry Moser.
Bound in 2007.

A damask wallpaper pattern from the Victorian period forms the basis for this design. The pattern suggests a certain jaded formality and yet the individual shapes within it exhibit a curiously voluptuous and sinister character. The bold 'V' and 'F' monogram are obviously for Victor Frankenstein. His notebook plays an important role in the story, possessed both by the doctor and the monster. My binding also suggests the cover of that book.

Les Contes de Ma Mere L'Oye
(Tales of Mother Goose)
by Charles Perrault.
Bound in 2007

The stories are bright with imagery, natural settings and great foreboding! I have created an image of hidden quiet and balance. Dread of discovery also crouches behind these green stalks.


The Book of Origins by André Ricard. Bound in 2005. Creation mythology demonstrates the human need to impart rationality and patterns to existence and physical surroundings. This simple design, in earth tones, is intended to symbolize that need. The blue background symbolizes the pervasiveness of sky and water in these stories.	A Sense of Time Left by Maureen Morehead. Illustrated by Mary Lou Hess. Bound in 2004. Ms. Morehead subtly marks a grid or framework of time and space before deftly splashing it with images, bright with color. The sun is a frequent image as is the red spectrum. A poem can be much like a mosaic of nearly balanced elements as I have depicted on the cover of this lovely book of poetry.


Stories of the Witch Queen by Gena K. Garrell. Illustrated by N.R. Jackson. Bound in 1992. ‘SR’ are the witch queen’s initials which shone in gold on her book of stories.	Escape Velocity by Mark Dery Bound in 2003. A book detailing cyber-culture’s attempts to exceed the boundaries of the human physical and mental condition.


Lost on the Titanic by Rob Shepherd. Bound in 2002. The snakes are modeled after those used for ‘The Great Omar’, the magnificent binding that went down on the Titanic. The facing ‘S’ shapes pay tribute to its creators, Sangorski and Sutcliffe.	L’Atlantide by Pierre Benoit Bound in 2003. A novel about an eternal queen obsessed with the possession and destruction of men through seduction. The design for this binding was modeled from a spider web found in nature. The ‘web’ was created with a single onlay.


The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty. Illustrated by Barry Moser. Bound in 2002.	Beauty and the Beast retold by Marianna Mayer. Illustrated by Mercer Mayer. Bound in 1989.


Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. Bound in 2005.	The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Bound in 1995.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Bound in 2006.

My cover design attempts to juxtapose the immediate versus the interminable nature of Ivan's prison experience. Further, I desired to express the frailty of the prisoners' daily existence set against starvation and a harsh environment. The narrative is engrossing. In identifying with Ivan I have used my own EKG chart in the design.

Featured in the One Book, Many Interpretations exhibit at the Chicago Public Library

Crop Circles: The Greatest Mystery of Modern Times by Lucy Pringle.
Bound in 2002.

Griffins, phoenixes and other mythical beasts were often stamped into the compartments of tooled medieval book covers. Here I have substituted ‘insectogram’ crop circle figures.


Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. Bound in 1987.	Stone Eye by Richard Taylor. Bound in 2001.


Njal’s Saga translated by Carl F. Bayerschmidt and Lee M. Hollander. Bound in 1989.	The Flowering Hawthorn by Hugh Williamson. Illustrated by Clare Leighton. Bound in 1984.


Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan (retold by Gary Schmidt). Illustrated by Barry Moser. Bound in 2001.	Twenty-four Bagatelles by Harold G. McCurdy. Bound in 1993.