HBP, Inc is honored to be the recipient of the PGAMA Grand Q Award for the second year in a row for the production of the book 14 Stations by Brian Dailey, in collaboration with Gallery Book Arts, DC.   

The Grand Q Award is the Printing and Graphics Association-Mid Atlantic’s “Best of Show” title for the annual Excellence in Print Awards. Out of hundreds of brilliant examples of print in the region, this project was also selected for: the “People’s Choice Award”, “Impossible Job”, “Book Covers & Jackets-Non-Process”, “Finishing & Binding”, “Packaging-Process”, and “Books: Case Bound-Process” titles.  

This intricately detailed piece is the result of several centuries of printing mastery coming together after months of careful planning and execution. The unique design on the cover was designed and produced by HBP from hand-wrapped scanned paper. The die-cut corners reveal hand-dyed cloth, creating wonderful depth and color contrast. 

The highly detailed photos in the piece were embossed, while the cover stock borders were debossed, a technique used to create texture and enhance the reader’s visual experience. The book and the accompanying leatherbound journal are encased in a handmade and fabric-wrapped clamshell case. 

Perhaps the most awe-inspiring feature of this piece is the non-adhesive binding. The brilliantly crafted pages are bound by Irish linen cord that was waxed and custom dyed to match the PMX codes of the cover’s cloth. The cord was then hand-stitched through each page using an ancient Egyptian technique known as Coptic Binding. This painstakingly intricate process allowed the piece to open both horizontally and vertically, revealing two different sections of the book. 

This award-winning piece was constructed by a brilliant team of artists, leather artisans, and bookbinders at Book Arts in Washington DC amid global shortages of materials. We are proud to have produced such an extraordinary example of what is possible through the power of print and HBP.