Symposium on 19th century publishers' bindings

A Symposium: The History, Technology and Conservation of
    Nineteenth-Century Publishers' Bindings
Grolier Club
New York
Feb. 22, 2008
9am - 5pm

Concurrent with the upcoming exhibition The Proper Decoration of
Book Covers: The Life and Work of Alice C. Morse From the Collection
of Mindell Dubansky, the Guild of Book Workers will co-sponsor with
the Grolier Club a one-day symposium dedicated to the history,
technology and conservation of nineteenth-Century publishers'
bindings.

Interest in the publishers' binding and its importance in the
history of the book is growing. Please join us as we hear from
curators, conservators, artists and historians about the history,
design, construction and conservation of this expanding area of
interest. We are delighted to hold the symposium in the context of
the first exhibition of the collected work of Alice C. Morse and to
celebrate and consider the decorated publishers' binding as an
object of special character.

The speakers are:

    Sue Allen is the foremost historian of 19th-century American
    book covers. Her talk, The Thrill and Beauty of
    Nineteenth-Century Book Covers, 1830-1910 will examine the
    materials, technology, and styles of publishers' bindings during
    this time

    Mindell Dubansky is Preservation Librarian at the Thomas J.
    Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and is curator
    of the exhibition "The Proper Decoration of Book Covers: The
    Life and Work of Alice C. Morse," which will be on view at the
    Grolier Club during the symposium. She will give a talk on the
    book designs of Alice C. Morse (1863-1961) who was a prominent
    American book cover designer during the late 19th and early 20th
    centuries. Her clients included many New York publishers,
    including Scribner's, Harper's, Putnam's, Dodd Mead and The
    Century Co. This talk will review Morse's career as a designer
    as well as the technical and decorative aspects of her work

    Mike Kelly is the Curator of Books at the Fales Library and
    Special Collections at New York University. He will speak on the
    changes in manufacture and binding processes used in the
    publishing industry during the late 19th century and how the
    design and structure of trade books changed as a result

    Robert J. Milevski is Preservation Librarian at the Princeton
    University Library, and has been studying 19th century
    publishers' bindings, signed bindings, and metal bookbindings
    since the early 1980s. He will speak about The Extra Bindery at
    Riverside Press. The Riverside Press, part of Houghton Mifflin,
    had an extra bindery department from about 1880, until the 1910s
    or 1920s.  From 1905, two designer binders lead the department,
    one of whom was Louise Averill Cole. He will discuss the sample
    books of extra bindings from which clients could choose their
    bindings, show images of these sample books and rubbings taken
    from finished bindings, as well as images of covers from the
    period and drawings of binding designs that were made into the
    brass dies that stamped the covers of these extra-bound books

    Richard Minsky is a prominent Book Artist and Chairman of the
    Center for Book Arts. He will speak on the evolution of design
    on publishers' bindings during 1872 to 1929, and how he adapted
    the technique of textured gold, used for single-die stamping
    during that period, for use in his own bindings

    Stuart Walker is the Conservator for the Boston Public Library.
    He will speak on the career of Sarah Whitman, one of America's
    most important and influential book designers and the principle
    designer for Houghton Mifflin in the 1880's and 90's

    Todd Pattison is the Senior Book Conservator at the Northeast
    Document Conservation Center. His talk is titled Why, What and
    How?--Conservation of 19th Century Cloth Publishers' Bindings.
    The first question that needs to be asked when looking at the
    conservation of any item is "Why?" The transition from laced-in
    boards to the case bound book was a dynamic shift in the field
    of bookbinding and examples of damaged bindings that show this
    transition are sometimes presented to the conservator for
    repair. However, these bindings may be best left not repaired
    but simply protected for future study. Once it has been
    determined "What" to work on the big question becomes "How"? An
    awareness of the scarcity of many19th century cloth bindings, a
    new understanding in their role in the history of bookbinding
    and an increased interest in exhibiting them, has required the
    need for more subtle and sympathetic conservation techniques.
    This talk will discuss items best left in their deteriorated
    state and, for those bindings that should be conserved, some
    practical repair techniques for achieving high quality results
    with an emphasis on aesthetics

    Jessica Lacher-Feldman is the Project Manager of Publishers'
    Binding Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books. She will give us a
    tour of the site and an overview of the project and its bounty
    of resources which include nearly 5000 bindings and over 10,000
    images of bindings in a fully searchable database as well as
    over 150 additional web pages of resources relating to all
    aspects of publishers' bindings, including a glossary,
    bib/webliography, teaching and research tools, galleries and
    essays relating to specific designers, authors, and subjects,
    and much more. She will demonstrate what book artists, binders
    and conservators will find in PBO and how they can learn about
    structures, materials, and techniques used to create publishers'
    bindings that would help them with their work

The talks will be followed by a panel discussion with all the
speakers.

The symposium will take place at the

    Grolier Club
    47 East 60th Street
    Friday, February 22, 2008
    9am to 5pm

Registration for the symposium is $60, $50 for members of the
Grolier Club and the Guild of Book Workers.

To register for the symposium, send a check made out to the Guild of
Book Workers by February 11, 2008 to:

    Clare Manias
    GBW NY Chapter
    534 Leonard Street
    Brooklyn NY 11222

For more information please contact cmanias<-a t->yahoo< . >com or call
212-851-5603.

Additional support provided by Talas.

Clare Manias


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:40
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 3, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-21-40-008
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