Devon Eastland

Today is Tuesday, June 30th

Rag & Bone Bindery is open for business

(read our post from Wednesday, March 25th for more information about how we're able to remain open for business)

Hello everyone! Today we’re looking back on the handbound book props featured in Greta Gerwig’s film interpretation of Little Women. You may remember the film's final montage of Jo March’s manuscript at long last being professionally published; printed and bound on nineteenth century equipment in red leather with gold embossing. The craftspeople behind the scene were bookbinder Devon Eastland, based in Massachusetts, and David Wolfe, a letterpress printer from Portland, Maine. Though both had cameos at the end as a bookbinder and printer, Eastland’s work is present throughout the film in 1800s school books, sketchbooks for May, account books for Meg, journals for Jo, reproductions of Louisa May Alcott’s journals based off the originals on view at the Houghton Library, and several other “period-appropriate book props” and titles mentioned in the film. Eastland worked tirelessly to create the full set of props within just six months for the film, and hopes what she has created “will be a very beautiful tribute to the book arts and that will make Alcott fans proud!” We at the bindery were certainly very appreciative of Eastland’s work, particularly in that final scene where each step of the binding process is captured, along with all of the emotional weight of officiating a story in print.

You can see more of Eastland's comings and goings in and out of the bindery on her Instagram, @devoneastie.