Volume 11, Number 3
Apr 1987

Events in the News

• Book arts: The seven book arts organizations listed in the "Useful Addresses" mailed to all subscribers have ongoing programs of courses, workshops, demonstrations, lectures and exhibitions. Announcements for these events are ususlly sent to the Abbey Newsletter office, but they do not appear in the Newsletter unless they are news. Readers who want to stay well informed about these events should join the Guild of Book Workers or other organizations. The GBW provides the most complete and nationwide information.

  The Creative Arts Workshop is offering 10 courses in book arts, including one in hand bookbinding; the Hand Bookbinders of California, for their March 30 program, showed a videotape from the Gerard Charriere presentation at the GBW Standards Seminar in 1985, and had Eleanore Ramsey on hand to lead the discussion afterwards.

• The Belvedere Press's program for its March 21 conference on the medieval book in New York was printed in black letter throughout and certainly sets the mood. The Belvedere Press, an international publishing group composed of Belser Verlag (Stuttgart), Editions Ebory (Paris), and Kraus Reprint & Periodicals (NYC), makes limited edition reproductions of books in the Archives of the Vatican Library in Rome, so that the originals can be preserved in a controlled environment and protected from use. The replicas are printed on acid-free paper and reproduce the features of the originals in every detail, including hand application of gold and silver where necessary. The 11 speakers covered topics that included "Methods for describing lost examplars of medieval manuscripts," "The availability of medieval manuscripts," and "Cataloguing medieval manuscripts: The book as historical artifact." Gisela Noack spoke on "Conservation and restoration of medieval manuscripts."
• On March 28-30, Marina Regni of Rome gave two workshops on paper conservation in Paris, at the Atelier d'Arts appliques du Vesinet (School of Bookbinding, Restoration and Book Arts; its formation was announced in the February 1986 issue of this Newsletter on p. 5). A second workshop at a different level will be given March 31 to April 2. The AAAV is at 28 bis Chemin du Tour des Bois, 78400 Chatou, France.
• April 6-10, preservation administrators and others who feel they need to have a better understanding of their building for control of the environment and prevention of disasters could have attended a conference on "Existing Housing Inspection," if the announcement had been received in time. This is an annual affair, sponsored by the Department of Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin, 432 N. Lake St., Madison, WI 53706 (608/263-4705). Although it is designed for city housing inspectors, it covers many subjects inadequately covered in preservation conferences and literature: indoor air pollution; pest control; heating, cooling and ventilation aspects of housing; water penetration of the structure; and how to make an inspection.
• In April, May, June and August, in major cities of the U.S., the American Management Association is giving a 1½-day seminar on "Disaster Planning and Recovery." Some of the aspects covered are ones familiar to people who have attended disaster workshops announced in these pages: the committee priorities, plan, exercise, recovery teams, vendor arrangements, training and maintenance. Others are different: there is no mention of freezing and drying; Continuing Education Units are offered (and a "CEU certificate, suitable for framing" will be sent a few weeks after the course is over); and the fee, which is $695 for members. Nonmembers pay $795.
• July 20-31, the treatment techniques workshop of Johns Hopkins University Eisenhower Library will be given--twice. This is part of the program described in more detail on p. 54 of the August 1986 issue of AN. The five-day workshop will concentrate on studio demonstrations and hands-on practice; participants will receive a reference manual covering the material presented, at the end of the workshop. One day will be devoted to a field trip to preservation facilities in Washington, DC. No registration fee; limit 15 participants; low-cost accommodations. Contact: Workshops, Collections Maintenance Department, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (301/338-8380).
• This fall sometime the Seventh Seminar on Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding of the Guild of Book Workers will be held in the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin. This time the format will revert to that used in 1985 and before: each presentation will be given several times before small groups, instead of once with a simultaneous projection onto a screen for the whole audience. (The video record of last year's presentations is in the process of being edited for later release.)