an Anniversary Book

For my parents' 60th anniversary we gathered a few months early - the only time all their children me and my siblings) were available to be in the same place at the same time. So we thought it would be great to surprise them with a gift on the actual day. But then we missed it because I didn't really know the right date!

At any rate, our project was successful otherwise.
At our gathering (with the stealthy help of two nephews) I gave each of the seven siblings an unsewn signature with instructions to do whatever they wanted on the pages - that would be celebratory and have something about their family. We ended up with photos, notes, drawings, quite a variety. Another signature included a list of all the family members in order of birth (or marriage into the family)

One brother is a woodcarver and he made a wonderful box for the book to go in.

I used a binding method that is entirely undo-able if ever needed, but more importantly, that allows for any thickness of pages and will lie flat for easy viewing. (Learned at a workshop at the St. Louis Calligraphy Guild - I believe it was by Micheal Jacobs). My father is a geographer and made several trips to Guatemala so it was appropriate to use a map for the cover. Here's the title page- a piece of Guatemalan cloth wrapped the book inside the box.