Est. 2026 · High Desert, Southern California
Vanguard Craftworks
Home of the Vanguard Codex
A leatherworker's studio in the high desert of Southern California — where ancient craft meets living faith.
A leatherworker's studio in the high desert of Southern California — where ancient craft meets living faith.
A handcrafted five-volume archival Bible — built from scratch because the Bible I wanted didn't exist. Single column. Large print. Red letter. The oldest documented canonical ordering we have historical evidence for. Bound in vegetable-tanned leather by hand.
The New Testament follows Codex Vaticanus, one of the oldest complete Bible manuscripts in existence, dating to approximately 325 AD. The Old Testament follows the Babylonian Talmud's ordering of the Hebrew scriptures. The Apocrypha follows Martin Luther's 1535 Bible. Each volume is typeset in EB Garamond with decorative drop caps on archival cotton rag paper.
Following the oldest documented traditions of both the Hebrew and Greek manuscript traditions, the Vanguard Codex presents scripture in five hand-bound volumes.
Vanguard Craftworks is a one-man studio in the high desert of Southern California producing handcrafted leather goods and — now — archival books. Every project is built to last generations.
Holsters, folios, costrels, and bespoke leather goods. Vegetable tanned. Hand stitched. Built to age beautifully.
Smyth sewn signatures. Full Yapp covers. Raised spine bands. The Vanguard Codex is the first of its kind from this studio.
Every page of the Vanguard Codex is hand-typeset in LaTeX using EB Garamond — a typeface with roots in 16th century France.
Every craft decision in the Vanguard Codex is documented publicly. The reasoning is as important as the result.
The Vanguard Codex is being built in public. Every decision — theological, typographic, and craft — is documented on Substack. This is not a finished product. It is a journey.