Mother's
Milk by
Edward St Aubyn
Picador,
2006
224 x 145 x 32mm
Bound by Stuart Brockman
Japanese paper end leaves made up and added; all edges gilt; book sewn on 4 linen tapes; original dust
wrapper bound in; loose guards at first and last sections put down; spine glued and shaped; laminated
cushioned boards laced on; double end-bands sewn on; spine lined with unbleached cotton and acid-free
paper; book covered with black goatskin and inlaid panels made up of transparent vellum over paper;
mass gold tooled inlays added; gold lettering to spine; binding housed in velvet lined
cloth box, box lettered in gold on the spine. .
"The design reflects the family tree with the mass gold tooled semi-circles representing characters from the
book. Eleanor, the Grandmother, is on the rear board. The larger semi-circle on the front board represents
Patrick, and his two sons Robert and Thomas are the smaller ones. The red lines linking these represent a bloodline
linking all four characters. The yellow line represents inherited money, hence the break between Mother and Son.
The money line goes directly from Eleanor to the Transpersonal federation group represented by the circular
motif on the front board. The positioning of the motif represents how the group come between the family
members. The rear board has a Euro symbol on the money line and a link to France represented
by the flag. The flag links to shapes representing sun, sea and the beach."