Smith, Charles Philip ( 1928- )
An English bookbinder and painter who received his
education at Ackworth School and his art training
at the Southport College of Art. He also studied
under Roger Powell at the Royal College of Art,
and was awarded a 1st Class diploma in 1954. Smith
worked with Sydney Morris Cockerell from 1957 to
1960, and since then has worked as a free-lance
creative bookbinder and painter. His bookbindings
have been exhibited widely both in Great Britain
and abroad, and are to be found in the collections
of the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert
Museum, the New York Public Library Spencer
Collection, and other libraries and museums, as
well as numerous private collections.
Smith has been responsible for many innovations in
construction and covering technique, design, and
the use of materials. He created the BOOK WALL , as well
as several new techniques in cover treatment,
including the feathered ONLAY , and
re-constituted and sectioned onlays, which allow a
greater variety, subtlety, and fluidity of color
and surface, all essential to his particular mode
of expression. Smith is a member of the Crafts
Centre of Great Britain (1956), the Guild of
Contemporary Bookbinders (1959), and the Society
of Artists and Designers (1967). He is also the
author of The Lord of the rings and other
bookbindings (1970), and New directions in
bookbinding (1974).