Frank Heyner tooled leather book covers

A 7143

fonds

between 1915 and 1940

Graphic Materials, Textual Records

9683738

0.10 metres of textual material (2 boxes) - leather on board

Frank Heyner was one of the leading book finishers in Australia for his time and was for a number of years in charge of the State Library of New South Wales Branch of the Government Printing Office Bindery. He was the first book finisher to use Australian wildflowers in designs for leather embossing of books. Born in 1885, he was the son of well-known London binder A.O. Heyner of Islington, London. He learned the elements of the craft from his father and studied and worked and worked all over Europe before sailing for Australia. He first worked at Sands & Co. of Sydney, where he came to the attention of the New South Wales Government Printer, Mr Gullick. Within five years Frank Heyner advanced from the position of youngest craftsman to that of the Superintendent of the Mitchell Library Bindery. An official exhibit, designed and executed by Frank Heyner, and sent by the New South Wales Government to the Panama-Pacific Exhibition at San Francisco won a gold medal. Frank Heyner died in 1961 in Sydney.

Reference:
British & Colonial Printer & Stationer, and Book Collectors' Society of Australia. Biblionews, Vol. 15 No. 5 (May 1962)

Frank Heyner was the foreman-in-charge of the Mitchell Bindery at the State Library of New South Wales

Tooled leather book cover examples.

BOX 1
Item 1: New South Wales Coat of Arms
Item 2: Flannel flower
Item 3: Wattle
Also includes:
Copy of 2 page article from the British & Colonial Printer & Stationer, 30 March 1916, pp. 167-168, titled 'Bookbinding in Australia : some original cover designs by a Sydney binder [Mr Frank Heyner]', which contains images of covers demonstrating an early use of Australian flora in Applied Art.

Copy of 'Binding Styles and Finishing Tools in the Mitchell Library : notes on conversations with Mr Heyner 30-10-40 to 1-11-40 by Phyllis Mander Jones'.

BOX 2
Item 4: Waratah
Item 5: Gum leaves and fruit
Item 6: Native pear and Christmas bush
Item 7: Waratah, Sturt's desert pea, & flannel flower

Copyright restrictions may apply:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Binding styles and finishing tools in the Mitchell Bindery : notes on conversations with Mr. Heyner, 30-10-40 -- 1-11-40 / by Phyllis Mander Jones. [Sydney, N.S.W. : P. Mander-Jones, 1940]. Call Number 686.30099/1

Title devised by cataloguer

Items 4 and 5 are reproduced in colour in R. T. Baker 'The Australian flora in Applied Arts, 1915, pp. 30-33 (Technological Museum - Technical Education Series, no. 22, ML 740B)

Frank Heyner's initials, "F.H.", are tooled into each binding example.