The Doors of Perception

Bound by Kate Holland

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
Hodder & Stoughton, London. 1976
8vo. pp.63. First edition

Full printed alum tawed calf with sunken onlays of neon orange leather, gold tooling. Doublures of hand dyed grey fair calf with neon orange leather sunken onlays and gold tooling. Endpapers printed image of red-hot poker with neon highlights. Edges gilt with neon orange spattering. Hand sewn endbands. Sewn on 3 tapes, laced on boards, leather jointed endpapers.

This is a rebinding of a first edition of Huxley's seminal account of taking the psychoactive drug, mescalin, one sunny summer's afternoon in Los Angeles. He recounts his impressions of a red-hot poker plant in his garden while under the influence. I chose this moment to represent the technicolour explosion that came with the introduction of LSD to a monochrome post-war world. This was a pivotal cultural point in the 20th Century with hippies, psychedelia and the Swinging Sixties close behind. "

Kate is happy to undertake commissions for design bindings.

For further examples of her work please go to www.katehollandbooks.co.uk and on her Instagram @katehollandbooks.