Le Mariage De Figaro
2008
Text by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
"There are four book covers that I submitted to a book cover competition in France – the Biennale for Book Arts. Every two years, an exhibition is held for which a book is produced, usually a facsimile edition of a famous French text. They send the edition to 800 bookbinders around the world – each of whom creates their own design with the aim of being included in the catalog, and perhaps winning a prize.
I wanted to do something about the marriage, of course, so I used two silhouettes of Figaro and Susan – one to each cover, back and front. And underneath them, I put two intertwined gold circles. That's the catholic symbol of marriage. Around the edge of the cover, I wrote the French vows used in marriage ceremonies.״
The description of this book is transcribed from conversations between Yehuda Miklaf and Shiraz Grinbaum held in January 2026. The collection of the legendary Jerusalem bookbinder was photographed especially for the website by Yair Meyuhas. Miklaf's collection includes Design Bindings created over more than 40 years.
- Copies: 366
- Pages: 168
- Type of binding: Design Binding
- Languages: Franch
- Dimensions (cm): 29x19
- Printing: Depo Legal, Premier Trimester 2008
- Binding: Yehuda Miklaf
- Type of printing: Facsimile Edition
- Publication: Depo Legal, Premier Trimester 2008
- Place of publication: France
- Book photography: Leafing Magazine
Yehuda Miklaf was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1942, and educated there and in New York. In 1968, he moved to Toronto and began working at the University of Toronto Library, where he stayed for almost ten years. During this time, he began to learn bookbinding with Emrys Evans at the Rare Book Library. Yehuda befriended two other notable binders in the Toronto area. One was Anton (Tony) Lucas, the binder at the Metropolitan Toronto Library, and Michael Wilcox, who was an independent binder. Miklaf has been working as a professional binder since 1977 with major book collectors, artists, private presses, galleries, and museums in Israel and around the world. He immigrated to Jerusalem in the fall of 1986 with his wife, Maurene Fritz. He is also a professional printer and has made a number of his own artist’s books in limited editions. His own press, based in Jerusalem, is titled Yehuda Shalom Press.
