This is the third of five blog posts where we interviewed each member of the Binding the Bard bookbinding competition panel of judges to hear about their thoughts on Shakespeare, the First Folio, books, art, and inspiration.
Mr. Dominic Riley
1. Tell us a little about yourself and how you find yourself involved in the Binding the Bard bookbinding competition.
Lauren Moon-Schott, one of the conservators working on the Durham First Folio projects, was in a class I was teaching last year in Newcastle and she signed me up. I am a bookbinder who restores old books, and that means a lot of Shakespeare. I also studied English Literature at University, so ditto. And I have a fascination with the First Folio. I just went to see The Book of Will, by Laura Gunderson, here in Prescott, Lancashire. Amazing! Did you see it?
My most personal connection to Shakespeare and bookbinding was in 2013. That year, I won first prize in the Designer Bookbinders International Competition — the Sir Paul Getty Award. A huge honour of course, all the more so because the theme was Shakespeare, and my binding was on Pyramus and Thisbe, beautifully printed by my friends the McDowals at the Old Stile Press. That binding is now in the Bodleian.
What is your favourite Shakespeare-adjacent memory?
London, in 1989. I was studying bookbinding at the London College of Printing. I took a young friend to see King Lear at the National, with Brian Cox as Lear. Having seen many Lears by then, I was interested in the staging, how they would handle the disappearance of the Fool, etc. (very academic). Gerard, my young friend, had never been to the theatre before and thought it was all a bit silly. But I’d gotten him a free ticket. When he didn’t appear after the interval I went in search of him and found him looking ill at the bar. Turns out, the blinding of Gloucester sent him over the edge. Now that’s the power of theatre!
If you could travel backwards in time and give Bishop John Cosin one book from today to add to his library, what would it be?
The obvious choice would be Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. But I’d go with Young Mungo, by Douglas Stuart, as I’d like a seventeenth-century cleric to learn how the religious hatreds of that time continue to cause pain to all us queer folk even now, and how a few brave kids can learn to overcome them and find love. Cosin’s time was so brutal, but then, today…?
Tell us about a piece of art you’ve seen or a moment you’ve experienced that artistically inspired you or changed how you thought about art.
Seeing Hockney’s Grand Canyon at his retrospective at the Tate. I didn’t know you could depict space and heat quite like that. And I wept buckets in front of David in Florence.
If you could invite three characters from Shakespeare to dinner, who would you invite and why?
Cordelia, because like most women in Shakespeare she never got to speak, except once at the beginning, and that was her downfall, and a second time at the end, when it was futile, and too late.
Ariel, because he’s a comedic mystic and so obviously queer.
And the little guy in the back with a spear who gets to say “I shall my liege’. I’d like to know what he really thinks.
When considering the Durham Folio, what do you personally feel makes it special?
Well obviously its tragic loss and eventual return. Also that it appears to be the only copy that has been at its original site since its acquisition. That’s fairly amazing. Also, as a bookbinder, that the team at Durham now have to decide how to proceed with its further treatment. That is a big challenge.
Can you share some thoughts with us on the First Folio, or describe your relationship with this book?
I know enough to know that the First Folio, whilst important, is not a particularly well-printed book. And why would it be, given that it is was produced in haste by a bunch of friends without great means? I have been able to visit First Folios at many libraries: at the Folger in Washington DC, in Berkeley, at Wormsley — the Getty library — and most recently in Sydney at the State Library. Each time there is a new experience.
And I can share this with you. I believe I may be one of a very few number of people who have handled all the First Folios at the Folger Library in Washington. That’s a tale for later.