The Highgrove Florilegium

Iain Bain (1934-2018) began working in printing and publishing in 1956. Iain was skilled with modern publishing technology, but also had a lifelong involvement in practical letterpress printing on the hand press - which he regarded as the equivalent of sail training for modern mariners.

After working at the Bodley Head as production manager and book designer, in 1972 Iain became Head of Publications at the Tate Gallery where he was to spend 22 years working with colour reproduction and the design and production of exhibition catalogues.

A sometime Fellow of the Society of Typographic Designers, he was given the Francis Minns Award for Book Design in 1980. He had a particular interest in the history of engraving and printing and was the founding secretary of the Printing Historical Society in 1964, later serving as Chairman. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society of Arts.

The text and end papers of the florilegium are illustrated with motifs from the garden at Highgrove. The decorative pictures include plants in the garden, the Princes' tree house, the dovecote and even the flock of Indian Runner Ducks.

Richard Shirley Smith studied at The Slade School of Fine Art. He has had more than twenty solo shows and had twelve mural commissions between 1975 and 1990 including work in London's Eaton Square, Princes Gate and Kensington Palace Gardens. In 1985 he was given a retrospective exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum and at the R.I.B.A. Heinz Gallery in Portman Square, London. John Murray published Richard's book The Paintings and Collages with a preface by Roy Strong.

Westerham Press created the highest quality of print for clients including The National Gallery and Tate.

The printing of both the text and the image pages was carried out at Westerham Press in Kent under the supervision of John Parfitt using Stochastic Lithography which facilitates the creation of outstanding quality prints from the original watercolours.

Stochastic lithography is an advancement in printing technology that gives a better print quality, cleaner and more accurate colour, and reduces running waste. Unlike conventional lithography this frequency modulated screening delivers an effect from microdots of a common size whose distribution varies according to tonal value.

Traditional bookbinding craft is used in the making of the Highgrove Florilegium. The text and plate pages are soft folded. Holes are then punched into them for the sewing needle. After the pages are sewn the boards of the book cover are laced on.

Stephen Conway, the bookbinder, was apprenticed with Edward Mortimer Ltd, of Halifax in 1974. Stephen worked with the Scholar Press Fine Bindery, Ilkley, and Smith Settle in Otley. In 1985 set up his own bindery in Halifax.  Stephen is a multi-award winning bookbinder and for four years was President of Designer Bookbinders. In recent years Stephen has had the honour of creating some of the unique Booker Prize Ceremony bindings, including binding The Testaments for Margaret Atwood.

Once collated and sewn, the books are sent to James and Stuart Brockman who hand tool the leather and finish the books by applying gold leaf to the embossed leather motifs.

James was born in Oxford, and was an Apprentice Gold Finisher at Blackwell's Oxford before studying under Ivor Robinson at Oxford Polytechnic. James assisted Sydney Cockerell in Cambridge before managing The Eddington Bindery in Hungerford for Lord and Lady Fermoy. James started up his own workshop and is currently in partnership with his son, Stuart Brockman. Stuart is an award-winning binder and both James and Stuart are fellows of Designer Bookbinders. James and Stuart Brockman Ltd is a highly specialised craft bindery, and the Brockman’s work is found in the British Library, Victoria & Albert Museum, National Library of Wales, Sir J. Paul Getty II Library plus many other National and Private Collections. James Brockman was awarded an MBE for services to bookbinding in 2023.

The paper sides of the Highgrove Florilegium are hand-marbled.

The paper is carefully lowered onto the floating pattern made by sprinkling colour onto a base made from carragheen moss, and then lifted, rinsed and air-dried.

Victoria Hall began making decorated papers professionally in the late 1980's, having attained a degree in the History of Art & Architecture at the University of East Anglia.

She learned how to replicate historic marbled papers for restoration purposes and within five years had added antiquarian style paste papers to her portfolio of designs. Both techniques have a long and rich history and Victoria's ongoing research focuses on European designs from around 1700.

Victoria's designs can be found in private and public collections including The Royal Library in Den Haag, Newberry Library in Chicago and the Schmoller Collection at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Beverly ALLEN, Helen ALLEN, Fay BALLARD, Caroline BARBER, Isobel BARTHOLOMEW, Stephanie BERNI, Evelyn BINNS, Valerie BOLAS, Marie-Christine BOUVIER, Dr Valerie BRADBURN, Jenny BRASIER, Dr Andrew BROWN, Jane BRUCE, Elizabeth CADMAN, Diana CARMICHAEL, Gillian CONDY, Jill COOMBS, Joanna CRAIG-McFEELY, Celia CRAMPTON, Sally CROSTHWAITE, Brigitte DANIEL, Rachael DAWSON, Angélique DE FOLIN, Elisabeth DOWLE, Josephine ELWES, Kate EVANS, Gillian FOSTER, Yvonne GLENISTER HAMMOND, Sarah GOULD, Lucinda GRANT, Josephine HAGUE, Ann HARRIS-DEPPE, Noriko HASEGAWA, Mayumi HASHI, Mieko ISHIKAWA, Junko IWATA, Jenny JOWETT, Yumi KAMATAKI, Christabel KING, Margaret KING, Kumiko KOSUDA, Flappy LANE FOX, Chrissie LIGHTFOOT, Fiona McKINNON, Katherine MANISCO, Jill MAYHEW, Kate NESSLER, Anne O'CONNOR, Susan OGILVY, John PASTORIZA-PIÑOL, Annie PATTERSON, Juliet PERCY, Jenny PHILLIPS, Kay REES-DAVIES, Janet RIECK, Lizzie SANDERS, Elaine SEARLE, Sheila SIEGERMAN, Sally STRAWSON, Susanna STUART-SMITH, Jessica TCHEREPNINE, Vicki THOMAS, Noriko TOBITA, Erico TOSAKI, Sally VINCENT, Anita WALSMIT SACHS-JANSEN, Amanda WARD, Hazel WEST-SHERRING, Jennifer WILKINSON, Susan WORTHINGTON, Jane WRIGHT.