Period Fine Bindings - Irregular Newsletter: Issue No 2. May 2006

Welcome to the second issue of my "Irregular Newsletter"

There seems to be a lot of events on just lately so I thought I would keep you informed about some of them.

Dis-bound and Dispersed: The Leaf Book Considered

This exhibition is the first to examine the history of the leaf book. A leaf book contains an original leaf from a significant printed book or manuscript that has been complemented with an essay or other explanatory material and rebound in a fine press publication. While this practice more widely distributed portions of the original, coveted book, it comes at the price of either destroying or dispersing an intact or partially fragmented publication. (I think it is sacrilege myself).

The Lilly Library is the final destination of this travelling exhibition, which opened last year at the Newberry Library in Chicago prior to its arrival at Indiana University.

The exhibition was on display at the San Francisco Public Library and the Houghton Library at Harvard.
Lilly Library Main Gallery thru 26.May.2006.

So it looks like we just missed that one then!

One we haven’t missed is the Hay-on-Wye Book Festival

For ten days from 26 May to 4 June over 50,000 visitors are expected to converge on the small market town of Hay-on-Wye, for the literary festival. There are only 39 book shops and about 10 eating places in Hay, so there may be a bit of a queue. The visitors come from the UK , Europe and America to listen to the speakers and join in the celebration of literature. We were in Hay only a few weeks ago, had a bit of lunch, a meander around, and bought a few books. The Festival is quite something, so get there early.

Did you know there are now 3 Booktowns in the UK? A ceremony took place on 12 May with the officials of Cumbria County Council and now Sedbergh can now stand comparison with Hay-on-Wye and Wigtown as our third UK Booktown.

 Don't think you'll find much antiquarian stuff there though!!

Biggest News of all is that on July 13 Sotherby's of London will be auctioning a copy of Shakespeare's first folio of 1623, from what I hear, it is a remarkably good copy apart from missing one page, and has been in the same library since 1716. I'll keep you informed on that and may tell you about the two Thomas Pavier 1619 Shakespeare Quarto's I restored in 1986.

Comments

[Carleton Palmer]

Paul,
In Japan you would be regarded as a "Living Treasure" for both preserving traditional arts and making them live viably in an era hostile to the human hand and eye. During my University career in the 1980's at New York University friends and I incorporated an organization in New York State which remains on the books, although alive only in our aging hearts, called ISALTA (International Society for the Advancement of Living Traditions in Art). I declare you a member, with thanks for your use of the new technologies to inform us of the traditional arts of the bookbinder.
Sincerely,
Dr. Carleton Palmer