Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery is hosting the exhibition Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding from February 18 to May 3.

Internationally renowned bookbinder Roger Powell OBE (1896-1990) produced and worked on exquisite books in his Froxfield bindery for five decades.

There will be rarely seen fine bindings by Powell and those connected with him, including Douglas Cockerell, William Matthews and Peter Waters, sourced from private collectors.

There will also be more than 20 uniquely bound books by members of Designer Bookbinders, leading practitioners in the field today.

This exhibition will spotlight the artistry and incredible techniques of a practice that dates back thousands of years.

Powell studied the oldest surviving European leather-bound book, the 8th-century St Cuthbert Gospel, and his teachings - including a method to keep the vellum intact - are still widely used today.

He worked on the rebinding of historical artefacts such as the Book of Kells in the 1950s, the Lichfield Gospels in the 1960s, and 20th-century editions of famous works including Dante’s Divine Comedy.

When Florence’s River Arno flooded in 1966, Powell and business partner Peter Waters were integral figures who helped conserve and restore thousands of badly damaged books from the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze.

His expertise was still being sought near the end of his life. In 1986 he advised the Edward Barnsley Workshop on making new oak book boards for rebinding the Domesday Book for its 900th birthday.

His mastery of the craft has meant his legacy continues to this day, with editions bound by Powell highly sought after, and his belief that a book is a three-dimensional object with design and parts all unified now an accepted understanding.

The exhibition will also explore the fascinating life of Powell, from his First World War service to an early foray into farming and his lifelong pursuit of beekeeping.