About the cover:

Stiff brochure Black hard cardboard cover glued to light grey double endpapers, the binding strips made of smooth, bright red cowhide leather over the spine and 7 cm each on the front and back covers. Decorative 3 mm wide red and white leather strips mounted above and on the spine under the red leather. Author and title stamped in light grey on front cover. Smoothly trimmed, half cloth hinged case covered and lined with slate-coloured paper, light grey embossed spine.

This master binding by Claudia Richter was honoured at the ‘bel libro 2009’ international binding competition.

About the content:

Rainer Maria Rilke: The Ways of Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke

One of 600 copies

Kranich-Verlag, Zollikon 2009 The work was written in 1899, when the eighteen-year-old Christoph Rilke was killed on a battlefield in Hungary. The focus is on the fears and dreams of the young standard-bearer, who spends a night of love in a magnificent castle shortly before the decisive battle. The poem became a symbol of identification and a projection screen for countless young soldiers.

About the artist: Trained as a biology laboratory assistant, Claudia Richter completed her training as a successful cover artist specialising in book concept art with Mechthild Lobisch at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle.

Soon afterwards, she opened her own ‘Studio for Book Art and Design’ in Halle. She developed her own style, which is strongly influenced by her training and is based on a mixture of geometric rigour and subtle poetry. Each cover is a successful one-off of rare delicate elegance, a kind of ‘homage’ to beauty. And all with perfect craftsmanship!