Exhibition catalog for a traveling exhibit of S. A. Neff, Jr.'s, unique bindings. The catalogue includes essays by Neff, Lynne Farrington and Cara Schlesinger, and features 160 full-color images, a glossary of terms, and a bibliography.

Exhibition dates: Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, February 23 through June 3, 2018; Case Western Reserve University, Kelvin Smith Library; Cleveland, August 20 through November 16, 2018; and University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Philadelphia, August 22 through December 20, 2019.

The exhibit is about one man's passion for the natural world, and the world of books. Over five decades ago Neff began a serious pursuit of trout, and books on the art of angling. His travels took him to some of the most picturesque and challenging trout rivers in this country and abroad, and his collection of angling books grew into library of three thousand volumes.

In the early 1980s, Neff transitioned from a career in graphic design to fine bookbinding, training with workshops and seminars sponsored by the Guild of Book Workers. Since 1986 his work has been exhibited in this country and abroad. At the turn of this century he had arguably the largest solo binding exhibition ever mounted in this country. This exhibit traveled to six institutions during a two year period. Examples of his work have been published in books and periodicals in the U.S. and Europe.

Neff is cognizant of the traditional structures in bookbinding that have evolved over numerous centuries. He has chosen to embrace rather than negate these traditions. However, he prefers to stretch the boundaries whenever possible. For over two decades he has focused his binding efforts exclusively on work for his angling library. Neff has created sets of bindings with multiple volumes contained in drop-back boxes. Usually working with goatskin, the design on the box serves as an introduction to its contents. Even single volumes are housed in a decorative box. The work ranges from bindings with intricate pictorial panels of Japanese dyed paper - to decorative leather bindings with multiple onlays, and elaborate gold tooling.

In bridging the span of centuries of binding design, Neff has often focused on modern interpretations of 17th and 18th century panel designs. His collection of angling bindings is unique in its genre, and will remain intact in perpetuity.