Sybil Pye

Sybil Pye (18 November 1879 – 1958) was a self-trained British bookbinder famous for her distinctive inlay Art Deco leather bindings. She was, along with Katharine Adams and Sarah Prideaux, one of the most famous women bookbinders of their period. She was the only binder in England and one of a few in the world whose specialty was inlaid leather bindings. Life Pye was born Anna Sybella Pye in Marylebone, an area of London, England, and a member of a distinguished family. She was one of seven children (four brothers and two sisters) 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. They lived in Limpsfield, Surrey, in a house called Priest Hill. Their neighbours included a number of progressive families including Sydney and Margaret Olivier and Edward and Constance Garnett and all their children became friends. Their parents entertained many literary and artistic figures of the time including Laurence Binyon and Thomas Sturge Moore. The oldest sister was Edith Mary Pye and one of the few women Chevaliers of the Legion of Honour for her work in France during World War I. and the youngest was the artist turned sculptor, Ethel Pye (ca. 1882–1960), who was educated at the Slade School and worked in bronze and wood. Her brothers included David Randall Pye, the scientist and father of the sculptor William Pye, and Edmund Burns Pye (1878–1959), 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 (RCA) in London. He donated Sybil's papers to the RCA.