The Magical Record is the central instrument of Western esoteric practice — the place where ritual is documented, vision preserved, and the work of a lifetime accumulated. The object that holds that record matters.
This is Debbi's personal Magical Record, made for her own practice to her own specification. It is not for sale. It is presented here as a demonstration of what is possible when this work is commissioned.
Debbi Cohilas is a CalArts-trained fine artist whose career spans decades of professional work across painting, illustration, and the decorative arts. The binding arts are a natural extension of that discipline — the same material intelligence, the same standard of execution.
Materials & Construction
The covering leather is TALAS Alran goatskin in M02 Ruby Red — full vegetable tannage, aniline dyed, hand boarded four times to produce its characteristic tight, uniform grain. At 0.9–1.1mm substance it covers crisply and improves with age. The spine is built on slotted thong supports in the medieval tradition — each signature sewn through a split thong, then twisted before entering the next, locking every section mechanically to the one above and below it. This is the herringbone or twisted slit thong attachment, documented in J.A. Szirmai's The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding as one of the most structurally rigorous spine constructions in the entire history of the craft. The text block cannot accordion apart even without adhesive. The boards are laced on. The front board carries a blind-tooled double-rule border set with twelve gold-bezel cabochon stones in onyx, moonstone, malachite, and amber.
Inside, two endpaper treatments: Japanese chiyogami in a classic cherry blossom pattern and a hand-marbled paper in the peacock-feather pattern — both period-appropriate, both selected rather than assigned. The text block is Aquabee Super Deluxe, acid-free and unlined, with a surface that accepts ink, watercolor, and gouache without resistance.
The Hidden Fore-Edge Painting
The page edges are burnished gilt. At rest, they show nothing but gold.
Fan the pages at the correct angle and something else appears.
Concealed beneath the gilt is a fore-edge painting — medieval marginalia rendered in watercolor on the fanned page edges, invisible when the book is closed, present only when the pages are deliberately splayed. The rabbits and hybrid creatures that have occupied the margins of sacred manuscripts since the 13th century are here as well, hidden in the edges of a book built in their tradition. The painting belongs to the owner. It reveals itself at their discretion.
Fore-edge painting of this kind — hidden beneath gilt, executed by hand — is associated with the great English fine binders of the 17th through 19th centuries and remains among the most demanding techniques in the bookbinding arts.
Commission
Every commission is built from a conversation. Leather color, stone selection, endpaper treatment, text block dimensions, and the subject of the fore-edge painting are each determined in direct consultation. The result is an object made for one practitioner, reflecting one practice.
No two will be alike.
Example specifications: TALAS Alran goatskin, M02 Ruby Red, vegetable-tanned · Gold-bezel cabochon settings, twelve stones · Japanese chiyogami endpapers · Hand-marbled endpapers, peacock-feather pattern · Aquabee Super Deluxe acid-free art paper, unlined · Hidden fore-edge painting in watercolor · Burnished gilt fore-edge · Archival bookbinding board · Linen thread
Structure: Sewn on slotted thong supports (herringbone / twisted slit thong attachment) · Laced-in boards · Blind-tooled double-rule border · Full goatskin cover
Commission pricing from $2,500 · Consultation required