Sybil Pye was a self-trained British bookbinder famous for her distinctive inlay Art Deco leather bindings.
11 Facts About Sybil Pye
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Sybil Pye was, along with Katharine Adams and Sarah Prideaux, one of the most famous women bookbinders of their period.
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Sybil Pye was the only binder in England and one of a few in the world whose specialty was inlaid leather bindings.
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Sybil Pye was one of seven children born to Margaret Thompson Thompson Kidston, daughter of James Burns Kidston of Glasgow and William Arthur Pye JP, a successful wine merchant and collector of oriental and contemporary art.
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Sybil Pye's brothers included David Randall Pye, the scientist and father of the sculptor William Pye, and Edmund Burns Pye, father of David Pye, an accomplished wood-turner and carver, theorist of design and handcraft, and Professor of Furniture Design at The Royal College of Art in London.
6.
Sybil Pye was in poor health in her childhood and her first job was as a teacher in a private kindergarten.
7.
Ethel and Sybil Pye belonged to a circle of friends of Rupert Brooke, known as the Neo-pagans, which included the Olivier sisters and David Garnett.
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Sybil Pye first met Thomas Sturge Moore in 1899 and she developed a close life-long friendship.
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Sybil Pye taught herself, learning from Douglas Cockerell's classic Bookbinding and the Care of Books, but used Moore and Ricketts as advisors and critics throughout her career.
10.
Sybil Pye was one of the youngest of the pre-War women binders.
11.
Sybil Pye's bindings are held by private collectors and collecting institutions alike.