Sangorski & Sutcliffe

It is considered to be one of the most important bookbinding companies of the 20th century, famous for its luxurious jeweled bindings that used real gold and precious stones in their book covers.

They had met in 1896 at a bookbinding evening class taught by Douglas Cockerell at the London County Council's Central School of Arts and Crafts.

They were laid off in 1901 after a coal strike caused an economic slump, and they decided to set up on their own in a rented attic in Bloomsbury, starting on 1 October 1901.

They were commissioned to create a most luxurious binding of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the front cover of which was adorned with three golden peacocks with jewelled tails and surrounded by heavily tooled and gilded vines, that was sent on the ill-fated RMS Titanic in 1912.

After Sutcliffe suffered a stroke in 1936, he entrusted the business to his nephew, Stanley Bray (1907–1995), who had worked for his uncle since 1926.

Stanley Bray after his retirement made a third version of the binding using the original design, this is now in the British Library.