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Multidisciplinary Artist Joseph Ernst and his fellow member of Sideline Collective, Programmer Jan van Bruggen have reimagined books as complex literary algorithms crafted by their authors. Using custom-made software, they have begun a series of projects to take the entire text of a significant book and reorganise it alphabetically.

The first book to be produced for this transformational series was The King James Bible. The second was the US Constitution. The pair commissioned LEAP’s Print and Promotions team to provide digital printing as well as specialist bookbinding and finishing services to produce ‘Bible The’ and ‘America Constitution Of Of States The The United’.

‘Bible The’ needed to have the look and feel of a genuine Bible. Each detail needed to be correct – from the texture, weight and transparency of the paper stock to the spring of the binding, the style of the ribbons to the feel of the cover and the shimmer of the golden edged pages.

Joseph explains, “The process of working with LEAP was fantastic. There were so many hurdles to pulling off a project like this, especially with such a limited print run, and LEAP overcame all of them, with a smile and a sense of humour. At each stage in this process, we went through a range of options and performed a number of different tests to make sure that when we did the final piece, it would be perfect. And that is exactly how it came out: perfect. Thank you!”.

In contrast to the many months of planning that went into ‘Bible, The’, ‘America Constitution’ was delivered within 48 hours of Joseph’s brief. LEAP’s print experts were able to create a letterpress effect with very black type on rough white cartridge paper. Joseph selected a binding style which required absolute precision to centre the type on a very thin spine. LEAP completed the limited-edition print runs for both of these specialist art books at their in-house printworks in Woolwich.