DVD on Peter Waters

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to visit with Sheila
Waters, wife of the late Peter Waters. They live in south, central
Pennsylvania, not far from Gettysburg, and a couple of hours from
me.

During my visit, Sheila, an accomplished calligrapher, showed me the
early work of her husband, especially his bindings, lettering and
design. She also explained how she assisted with the design and
drawings for some of that work.

Many binders and conservators may only be familiar with Peter's work
when he led a team of conservators at the Biblioteca Nazionale
Centrale after the devastating floods in Florence in 1966. That was
followed by his work at the Library of Congress until his retirement
in 1995. Sadly, he died in 2003.

In memory of her husband, Sheila produced a fabulous DVD that has
been available since 2006. Since I had the opportunity to visit and
personally see his bindings, I thought I would suggest that if you
have not seen the DVD, that you should.

The DVD shows many early bindings by this great man who started
binding at the age of fourteen. There are bindings from the time
when he studied with William Mathews, and later when he was a
partner with Roger Powell. There is also his work as a lettering
designer, all of which is of the very highest quality. All of this
and more was done before he went to Florence. Most importantly, the
DVD shows the development of a man who is now called the "Father of
American Library Conservation".

It was truly an honor and a pleasure to see and handle his bindings,
and to scrutinize his very high standards. The DVD will give you, as
well, a good sense of Peter's accomplishments. I highly recommend
it.

The 85 minute DVD is available from:

    Sheila Waters
    851 Boyle Road
    Fairfield, PA 17320
    $30.00 includes shipping (check or money order please; no credit
    cards)

William Minter Bookbinding and Conservation, Inc.
4364 Woodbury Pike
Woodbury, PA  16695
814-793-4020
Fax: 814-793-4045


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:47
                  Distributed: Saturday, March 8, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-21-47-004
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