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Dates for your Diary

What's happening...

14th - 16th October 2010
*Guild of Book Wokers Standards of Excellence - Tuscon, AZ

In addition to the formal presentations there are tours, social events, a banquet with an entertaining auction - and one of the best reasons to attend might be the vendor room which will be packed with temptations.

The conference topics offer something for everyone, with presentations on traditional bookbinding, book arts and book conservation. There are frequently presentations that cross disciplines, and the variety is part of the very structure of the Guild of Book Workers.

This year's event is being held at the Radisson Suites in Tucson. The presenters are:

Michael Burke - Byzantine Binding

Michael Burke started his working life as a chemist researching the transformation of coal into oil. He later worked in occupational health with asbestos. Michael studied bookbinding with Dominic Riley and paper conservation with Karen Zukor. He was involved in establishing the bindery at the San Francisco Center for the Book, and edited Gold Leaf, the journal of the Hand Bookbinders of California.

Michael lives in the Lake District, England, where he teaches bookbinding at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal and at Society of Bookbinders (SoB) events across the UK. He is a past chair of the North West and North Wales region of SoB. He has taught for diverse book arts groups across the USA, including Los Angeles, Seattle and Salt Lake City and in 2007 he taught at Paper and Book Intensive in Michigan. Last year he travelled to São Paulo to teach for the Brazilian group ABER. In recent years Michael has been researching the structures of ancient and medieval bindings. Michael will demonstrate the making of a medieval Byzantine binding. This leather binding is unique in that is bound from the boards to the center, resulting in a natural rounding of the spine, at which point the two halves are joined.

Nancy Ruth Leavitt - In Search of Content, the Joys and Challenges of Creating the Book Form

Nancy Leavitt is a calligrapher specializing in unique hand-lettered and painted manuscript books. Leavitt's interest in the hand-lettered book developed as a result of her studies in the U.S. and Great Britain. Her work resides in many prestigious collections and she has received several grants from the Maine Arts Commission for research into her craft, including quill cutting. She lives, works, and sings in Stillwater, Maine.

Like an engineering project, a book is a complex three dimensional design made up of many parts. Content is the central idea of the design and narrative is how it unfolds, how the story is revealed and concealed. Our goal as bookmakers is to intentionally integrate all aspects of the design to strengthen the structure, form, and content of our works. Through demonstration and example, Nancy discusses her rigorous yet playful method of researching, compiling data, developing, and realizing materials for her manuscript books.

Martha Little - Book Forensics: Interpreting Evidence of Structure

Martha Little has been a bookbinder and book conservator since 1976. She was Book Conservator at the Yale University Library and Head of Conservation at the University of Michigan Libraries, and is now in private practice in California. Her early training was with Jane Greenfield, who incorporated a study of historical structures and the making of models into the work day, and with Roger Powell in England, whose powers of meticulous observation will always be an unattainable standard. Martha took part last year in a condition survey of manuscript books at the National Library of Egypt in Cairo, where she learned that two people can look at the same detail and see two different things.

Every book conservator accumulates knowledge of some of the small details that are clues to a book's invisible or lost structure. A remnant of a leather strap may lie in a board; extra holes suggestive of an earlier sewing may be apparent in the folds; raised areas where the covering material has become worn reveal where cords are laced in underneath. Martha's presentation will examine more ways of interpreting physical evidence when examining a book, in order to determine how it was made and what materials were used. She will bring old books to look at and discuss; recreate evidence though different means to see which interpretation seems more plausible; demonstrate some simple tests to identify materials, and show how the knowledge of the observer can both help with and get in the way of seeing what's there.

Jeffrey S. Peachey - Late Eighteenth Century French Binding Structures

Jeffrey S. Peachey is the owner of a New York City-based studio for the conservation of books and the inventor of conservation tools and machines. He is a Professional Associate in the American Institute for Conservation and a previous chair of the Conservators In Private Practice. For more than 20 years, he has specialized in the conservation of books and paper artifacts for institutions and individuals. A consultant to major libraries and university collections in the New York City region and nationally, he has been the recipient of numerous grants to support his work. A well-known teacher, Peachey also provides conservation-focused guidance to students in art, bookbinding and conservation programs.

This presentation will focus on the structural aspects of a typical 18th century full calf French binding by comparing contemporary descriptions in bookbinding manuals, examining extant bindings and experimenting with reproduction tools and equipment. In some respects, this structure is the end of utilitarian leather binding - 50 years later the cloth case begins to predominate. Some features of this binding style include cutting the boards with a pointe, ploughing the edges in-boards, four variations of transverse spine liners and sprinkled cover decoration. Primary texts include Diderot's Encylopedie (1751-1780). Gauffecourt's Traite de la Relieure des Livres (1763) and Dudin's L'Art du Relieur-doreur de Livres (1772). Specific conservation concerns for these structures will also be discussed.

Further information and application details are available from the Gild of Book Workers web site at www.guildofbookworkers.org

6th - 7th November 2010
*Bookbinders Fair, Pieterskerk, Leiden, Holland

Always an inspiring exhibition and a cosy meeting place for hand bookbinders, restorers, paper artists, calligrapher and all other interested parties (amateur or professional).

For more info: go to www.boekbindbeurs.nl

6th - 9th February 2011
*3rd Biennial Codex International Symposium and Bookfair, Berkeley, California

codexThe excitement is building as prepararations continue for the Third Biennial CODEX International Book Fair and Symposium on 6th - 9th February, 2010. It is estimated that over 3000 people will attend the four day event, with 150 presses, artists, and suppliers from all over the world exhibiting and selling at the book fair, and 250 artists, collectors, and curators participating in the 'Borders and Collaborations' symposium focusing on global collaboration to strengthen and enhance the future of the book arts.

With the success of the past two events, Codex has garnered the recognition of being the premier world's fair of fine press editions and artist's books.

Keynote Speakers:
- Paul van Capelleveen. Curator Modern Collections, Museum Meermanno, The Hague. The Contemporary Dutch Private Press.
- Richard Ovenden, FRSA, FSA. Keeper of Special Collections and Associate Director, Bodleian Library, Oxford. Book Arts in the 21st Century Research Library.
- Juan Nicanor Pascoe. Printer. Fine Printing in Mexico : Taller Martin Pescador, Michoacán
- Martha Hellion. Artist & Independent Curator. Perspectives : The Artist Book in Latin and South America.

For further information and booking, please go to: www.codexfoundation.org

The Society of Bookbinders - London & South Region Autumn Programme

4th December 2010 - Michelle Brown - A Talk by Michelle Followed by the Christmas Party

Michelle Brown is Professor of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London and is Tutor to the History of the Book MA. She was for many years the Curator of Medieval and Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library, where she remains as a part-time project officer. She was, until recently, a Lay Canon and member of Chapter at St Paul's Cathedral. She has curated several major exhibitions, including Painted Labyrinth: the World of the Lindisfarne Gospels (British Library, 2003) and In the Beginning: Bibles before the Year 1000 (Smithsonian Inst.,Washington DC, 2006-7).

Michelle has lectured, published and broadcast widely on medieval manuscripts, history and Christian culture, catering for a wide range of audiences. She has delivered the Jarrow Lecture, the Sandars Lectures in Bibliography and the Toller Lecture in Anglo-Saxon Studies. Her books include The Book of Cerne: Prayer, Patronage and Power in Ninth-Century England, The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality and the Scribe, The Luttrell Psalter, The Holkham Bible Picture Book, Manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon Age, A Guide to Western Historical Scripts, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts and The Lion Companion to Christian Art.

From her writings and lectures on the different aspects of Anglo-Saxon and medieval gospel texts, Michelle will be providing us with an insight into the role books played in our social history.

The day will start with the Bring & Buy, then after coffee we will hear Michelle Brown talk. Following the talk we will take a late buffet lunch with Christmas drinks. Numbers are not limited for this Christmas talk so all are welcome. If you are a new member or have not been to one of our meetings before then this would be a good opportunity to meet the regions diverse membership.

The workshop will be held at the Congregational Chapel, Kelly Street, Kentish Town, NW1. The entrance to the venue is between 34 and 36 Kelly St and there is limited car parking at the rear of the building on Kentish Town Road, near the corner with Prince of Wales Road. Tea and coffee are available throughout the day.

4th December 2010 - Bring & Buy Sale

The Region's annual fundraising Bring & Buy will take place first thing on the December meeting at Kelly Street. Ros Long invites everyone attending to donate something, however small, and to buy. If you won't be there, do arrange to send a contribution via a friend. If you will be seeking a buyer for a more substantial item, please consider giving 25% of the sale price achieved to SoB. Early notice of likely contributions will help Ros ensure a wide range of goods offering something of interest to all.

The fee for this event is £6.00 for Society of Bookbinders members and £12.00 for non-members.

Booking forms are available from:

Ray Newberry, SoB Regional Treasurer
Silverwood, 8 Wildwood Close, Woking, Surrey, GU22 8PL
ray.newberry@ntlworld.com

Designer Bookbinders Lectures
At The Art Workers Guild, 6 Queens Square, London WC1

Tuesday 5th October 2010, 18.30
Annette Friedrich - Play Along the Lines of.... Annette traces her bindings of the last few years

Derek Hood - The Space Between the Lines: Adding to design by subtracting

Sunday 30th October 2010
10.30 - Gerald Fleuss - The Legacy of Calligrapher Edward Johnston: The work of the Edward Johnston Foundation in maintaining the link with Johnston's work and the significance of his legacy in the digital age.

12.00 - Lester Capon - Extreme Bookbinding Again: A second voyage to Ethiopia, this time to repair vellum fans and a short retelling of his visit there in 2006 to preserve the 6th Century Gospels at the monastery of Abuna Garima.

14.00 - Angela James & James Brockman - The Cockerell Bindery: Two DB Fellows relate their experience of working with Sandy Cockerell.

15.30 - Sue Doggett - "Everything in the World Exists to end up in a Book": An illustrated talk on the difficult problem of leaving things out. Research, content, design and execution - how and why I make the thinks I do.

Tuesday 30th November 2010, 18.30
Bruce Howard - Oak Tree Fine Press, Bound to do Good: How a passion for books has been used to unite authors and artists around the world to help children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.

Saturday 8th January 2011
10.30 - Susan Allix - Balancing Acts: One Artist's Books, and how words, images and bindings influence each other in the making of a complete book.

12.00 - Stephen Conway - 25 and still Counting: A short review of w25 years of running a provincial bindery.

14.00 - Tom Perkins - Contemporary Letter Carving in Stone: A personal view.

15.30 - Rosemary Temperley - Paper-Engineered Books: An explanation of paper engineering and how it has been used in the field of book publication.

Tuesday 1st February 2011, 18.30
Mel Jefferson - The Middleton Lecture: Conservation and Preservation in the Parker Library at Cambridge University: Past present and future.

Tuesday 1st March 2011, 18.30
Jen Lindsay - Equivalents - Approaches to Making: How can we create our best work? By looking at the work of various artists and makers the talk suggests ways in which we can develop the conditions for creative thinking and making.

Admission - DB Members - £5, Non-members - £7, Students - £2.50 per lecture
Saturday Lectures - DB Members - £18, Non-members - £26, Students - £9 per lecture
Further details are available from lectures@designerbookbinders.org.uk

J. Hewit & Sons will have a stand at the event(s) marked '*'. If you would like us to bring specific items for you to purchase, please let us know at least 4 weeks in advance of the event.
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