Over the years, I have heard that binders will use a carpenter’s square to test the squareness of the fence on a board shear. While this may work, there is another way that should be more accurate, at least when one considers mathematics, and specifically geometry.

Take a large, approximately 18″ square, sheet of thin cardstock, such as 10 pt. or 20 pt. map folder stock. Align one edge to the fence, make a cut and identify that as #1. Align that #1 edge on the fence and make adjacent cut #2 —you are obviously cutting in a clockwise rotation with the most recent cut along the fence:

Continue cutting each edge making certain that the newly cut edge has been aligned perfectly to the fence. After the 4th cut, align that edge to the fence and re-cut #1. Rotate the cardstock to compare the squareness of the new cut #1 to cut #2. IF every corner is in fact an exact 90-degree angle, the #2 edge will align PERFECTLY with the bed blade. IF there is a slight difference, the amount out-of-square will be 1/4 of that total amount. If you want perfectly square cuts, the fence should be adjusted accordingly.

Iron-Top: If your shear is an Iron Top, such as the Jacques Bookbinder’s Shear as shown in the GBW Blog, the fence is easily adjusted; loosen the large knob a small amount and simply tap on the fence with a hammer to make the adjustment. When adjusted, the fence can be secured again. To hold the fence better, you could add a small C-Clamp at each end. The fence should be checked from time to time for accuracy.

Wood Top: If your shear has a wooden top, there are two things to consider:

First: Make certain that the fence, the metal bar, is perfectly straight. Some bars could be slightly bowed, which will create a major problem when trying to cut material square.

Second: In most cases, the fence is likely secured with wood screws that could loosen over time. Also, the bar could move through normal use, as well as from the expansion and contraction of the wood due to changes in humidity. Adjustments might be difficult if the holes in the fence are too small. And the use of wood screws may not be sufficient if the hole in the wood has enlarged.

An alternative to the wood screws is to replace them with bolts that are threaded into a “T-Nut” that is recessed in the underside of the wood. This modification requires a little up-front carpentry, but the result will allow the fence to be secured tightly. Note that the bolt hole in the fence should be large enough to allow adjustments.

Obviously, a square fence is a vital part of any board shear. The maintenance of your shear will show in the end results—Keep that Fence Square!

Protecting the surface:

The work surfaces of shears have been treated in a variety of ways. Some might be the original, plain, cast iron that can easily rust; while other shears with a metal surface may have been painted and that paint might be wearing away, thus exposing the bare metal. If the surface is wood, it may have been sealed.

With the metal tops, some binders will regularly clean and treat the surface with butcher-block wax. In other cases, the surface may have been covered with a sheet of polyester film—”Mylar”—with the edges taped down. An alternative is to use “Frisket Film” which is a plastic film with a low tack adhesive on one side. This film can be easily removed from most surfaces without leaving a residue. One brand is available from Graphix Plastics in Cleveland, Ohio (http://www.grafixarts.com/product/Frisket_Film). While one type is a soft, polypropylene, the other is a 1-mil polyester film. Polyester is a much tougher film and should stand up to hard use.

Safety Device for Clamp:

A safety issue with the board shears is the clearance under the clamp for the paper or board. There have been a few reports where people have severely pinched a finger and that has caused a close examination at a couple of university binderies. There is a simple solution and this will be addressed in an upcoming supplement in this blog.

May we all have a safe and well-maintained board shear that cuts paper and board perfectly square.

Bundle #1 − 83 volumes,1962 − 2006 – $250 – SOLD

Bundle #2 − 73 volumes, 1962 − 2005 – $219 - SOLD

Bundle #3 − 73 volumes, 1962 – 2005 – $219- SOLD

Bundle #4 − 80 volumes,1963 – 2006 – $240- SOLD

Bundle #5 − 53 volumes 1962 – 2006 – $159 - SOLD

Bundle #6 − 33 volumes 1964 – 2006 – $99

Bundle #7 − 22 volumes 1971-2001 – $66

Bundle #8 − 29 volumes 1964 – 2006 – $87 - SOLD

Bundle #9 − 34 volumes 1964 – 2006 – $102- SOLD

Bundle #10 - 33 volumes 1964 – 2004 – $99 - SOLD

To purchase one of these bundles, click here  or on the image below.

VICE-PRESIDENT
SECRETARY
TREASURER
MEMBERSHIP CHAIR
JOURNAL EDITOR
LIBRARIAN

The current Vice-President will be retiring from the Board of Directors.

The current Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Chair, Journal Editor, and Librarian will seek re-election.

Please submit nominations AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and NO LATER THAN APRIL 15 to:
Juliayn Coleman
Chair, Nominating Committee
juliayncoleman@gmail.com

You may nominate yourself for any of these positions. You may also suggest yourself or others to serve as members of these standing committees.

Job descriptions are outlined below.

The 2013 Nominating Committee
Juliayn Colemn, Chair
Christina Amato
Bexx Caswell

—

VICE PRESIDENT
The Vice-President represents the Guild Chapters on the Executive Board, seeking feedback and coordinating the work of the Chapters. The Vice-President oversees the public relations of the Guild, assembling and coordinating a committee to advertise the activities of the Guild, including the work of the Chapters. The Vice-President will coordinate the committee to judge scholarship entries for the Standards of Excellence Seminar. The Vice-President will offer feedback to the President on Guild activities and business.

SECRETARY
The Secretary shall attend all meetings of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and the general membership, and shall record all the proceedings at such meetings in a book or books kept for that purpose. The Secretary shall give, or cause to be given, notice of all meetings of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and the general membership, and all other notices required to be given by law or by the Bylaws. The Secretary shall see that all books, reports, statements, certificates and other documents and records required by law to be kept or filed are properly kept or filed, as the case may be. The Secretary shall perform such other duties and have such other powers as from time to time may be prescribed by the Board of Directors or the President.

TREASURER
The Treasurer shall keep a record of the Guild’s finances and shall have authority along with the President to approve bills for payment. The Treasurer shall oversee maintenance of any checking and savings accounts of the Guild and, with the President, have signing authority thereon. The Treasurer shall prepare a national budget at the beginning of each fiscal year, oversee preparation of periodic financial statements during the course of the year, and submit a year-end report on the financial condition of the Guild. The treasurer shall maintain current budgets for each chapter and oversee receipts and disbursements for individual chapters. The Treasurer will oversee the work of the bookkeeper for the Guild, an independent contractor.

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR
The Membership Chair is responsible for coordinating the committee that maintains membership records for the Guild. Duties of the committee include updating records in the membership database, preparing the membership directory, preparing renewal notices, and sending acknowledgements. A member of the committee will prepare updates of the membership for the Board of Directors and Chapter Chairs and for inclusion in the membership directory. The committee will prepare membership lists for the Treasurer and with the Newsletter and Journal editors for mailings. A member of the committee will receive extra newsletters and journals to send to new members as available.

JOURNAL EDITOR
The Journal Chair serves as editor of the annual GBW Journal and is responsible for coordinating the committee that oversees publication of the journal. The committee includes an editorial board that assists in directing the editorial content of the Journal and reviews all solicited and unsolicited submissions; a production team that prepares the final content and digital files for the printer; and an outreach team that works on advertising and the GBW blog. The Journal Chair oversees all aspects and operations of publication, including setting each issue’s direction and soliciting manuscripts in consultation with the editorial board; managing the peer review process by which editorial board members review and make publication recommendations on all solicited and unsolicited manuscripts; supervising the production process, including editing and proofreading files at all stages in tandem with the production team and communicating with the printer; promotion of the journal to nonmembers as a way of raising the Guild’s profile; seeking new sales and advertising opportunities as a way of increasing revenue; and preparing annual budgets and reports for the Board of Directors. At this time the Journal Chair is also involved in generating content for the Guild’s Blog and maintains a list of promotion contacts for use by the entire Board.

LIBRARIAN
The Library Chair is responsible for coordinating the committee that organizes and distributes the library collection of the Guild of Book Workers. The library collection includes books, journals, newsletters, and audio-visual materials from the Guild and other organizations. The Library Chair manages the video collection consisting primarily of video-recorded Standards presentations, CBBAG study courses, and various donated or purchased materials on DVD or VHS. The Chair will work with a committee member in Iowa City for the lending of books as the print materials that are housed in Special Collections at the University of Iowa Main Library. The committee will update the inventory and website information, responds to inquiries from GBW members about the collection, and records all library activities for reporting to the Board of Directors. The chair will prepare annual reports and budgets for the Board of Directors.

Over the years, I have had an opportunity to test the cutting action of many board shears. While some are OK, others have a major problem. Not only are they difficult to use, they could be causing serious damage to the components. And in some cases, there is a possible danger to the user. In 2000, the Guild of Book Workers produced a video on maintaining the Jacques Board Shear. That video is still available through the Guild Library at:  https://www.guildofbookworkers.org/resources/videos_standards/video.php#a00 (Note:  Be sure to look under the year 2000 – Salt Lake City, Utah for the “Examination of the Jacques Board Shear”.)  The following information will supplement that video.

As stated in the video, an immediate safety concern is a pin or bolt to prevent the counter-weight from dropping off. While the weight is known to have dropped a few times, fortunately, there have been no serious injuries. To prevent the weight from dropping, there should be the hole at the end of the counter-balance bar with a pin or bolt as a safety; if not, one should be added immediately. Another recent safety concern is the clearance under the clamp bar. This topic will be covered in a future article.

BACKGROUND

The Jacques Board Shear is available in two models: My preference is the “Iron-Top” that is described by Jacques as a “Bookbinders’ Shear.” Note that the cutting blade support of the Bookbinders’ Shear is a heavy, angular casting that is less prone to flexing during a cut. The second and very common model is the “Fine Paper Box Makers’ Shear” or the “Strawboard Shear” with a wooden top. In this model the upper blade is supported by a flat, rectangular casting that may flex during a cut.

In either model, the cutting blade should ideally move freely along the bed blade without pinching or binding. In fact the blade should ‘sing’ sweetly, smoothly and uniformly during the movement when not cutting any material. If everything is adjusted properly, a sheet of tissue paper or thin Japanese paper should cut cleanly. Occasionally, people may think that the blades need to be sharpened, but the upper blade may simply need an adjustment. Furthermore, one blade sharpening company has even suggested that the blades on our shears should only need to be sharpened every twenty years — see more information about sharpening at the end of this article.

Following is a diagram of the components for adjusting a Jacques Board Shear. Note that the cutting blade is supported on a Hub that pivots between the two Axle Bolts. These Axle Bolts push against one-another thus supporting the Hub. These bolts are adjusted to provide the proper clearance between the cutting blade and the fixed bed blade. Also note that these two axle bolts must be locked or secured by the adjacent Jam Nut, otherwise these bolts will loosen when the shear is used. Another nice feature in the Jacques design is the yoke that can be rotated or pivoted by two adjusting bolts, after loosening two other bolts. By adjusting these bolts, the cutting blade is made perfectly parallel to the fixed bed blade, even after decades of use.

Additional Notes before making any adjustments:

1)  Note that the thickness of some blades may have been overly ground and that the blades may not be flat. In other words, the blades could be warped. Since the blades will never lay flat, this may create a problem with the adjustments. See the additional notes at the end of this article about sharpening.

2)  Both the bed blade and the cutting blade should have been attached to a clean and uniform surface. All old shims should have been removed and the mounting surfaces should be clean of anything that could interfere with a uniform surface.

3)  The pivot points of the Axle Bolts and the Hub should be cleaned and lubricated with heavy-duty grease, such as automotive wheel bearing grease.

Special tools are needed: Two large adjustable wrenches are needed for the Axle Bolt and Jam Nut, one of which must be capable of fitting the large jam nut that is 1-7/16″; other smaller wrenches will also be needed.

Adjustment of the Cutting Blade — Patience is required:

1)  Before making any adjustments, lower the cutting blade SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY and observe the contact point of the two blades. Ideally, the cutting blade should lightly contact the bed blade during the entire cutting motion — there should be no need to pull on the cutting blade handle. Note that the bed blade has a slight inward grind, thus there will be clearance between the blades after the upper cutting blade has passed the cutting point. If the cutting blade pinches at any point, or if there is excessive clearance in an area, an adjustment should be made.

A.1) Blades pinching in one area: If the upper blade is pinching, then the axle bolts need to be adjusted. First loosen the jam nut for bolt A and then loosen A a small amount, perhaps about 15 degrees (less than 1/16th of a full rotation) —note: a tiny adjustment may have a huge affect on the alignment of the blade, so one must be very patient. After adjusting, re-secure the jam nut. Then loosen jam nut B, and adjust bolt B, though not too tight. While holding B in place, re-secure the jam nut. Slowly lower the cutting blade for a test. Adjust more as needed.

A.2) Excessive clearance all-along: If there is excessive clearance or if the blade is not making contact, then the axle bolts may need to be adjusted. First loosen the jam nut for bolt B and then loosen B a small amount, perhaps about 15 degrees (less than 1/16th of a full rotation). —note: a tiny adjustment may have a huge affect on the alignment of the blade, so one must be patient. After adjusting, re-secure the jam nut. Then loosen jam nut A, and adjust bolt A, though not too tight. While holding A in place, re-secure the jam nut. Slowly lower the cutting blade for a test. Adjust as needed.

A.3) Other: If the blade is making light contact in the middle of the length of the blade, but not at the ends, the upper blade is probably already parallel to the bed blade. In this case, the blade may need to be shimmed at the ends — see # 3 below.

B) Cutting at one end: If the upper blade is contacting the bed blade at only one end, it may be necessary to adjust the yoke — see step 2. The upper blade must first be parallel to the bed blade before making the final adjustments.

2)  Adjusting the Yoke: Note that the Yoke is secured by two bolts (2b) under the Hub. If you need to adjust the yoke, loosen these bolts slightly. Then loosen one of the bolts at 2c and then tighten the other (both bolts should be snug afterwards) — this will rotate the yoke. Note that small adjustments can make a huge change, so be patient. After adjusting, re-tighten the bolts 2b. Lower the blade slowly and carefully to test the cutting. Readjust as needed until the upper blade is perfectly parallel to the bed blade. Then adjust the clearance following section A.2.

3) Shimming the Cutting Blade: Thin sheets of Mylar (polyester film), such as 2, 3 or 4-mil, seem to be the best material for shimming. The pieces of film should be cut to fit between the bolts that secure the cutting blade to the support handle; the pieces should also be long enough to reach the top of the blade and also extend beyond the bottom. The pieces of film can be folded/creased so that they will stay in place when the bolts are loose. With the shims long enough during the adjusting process, a record can be made of what has been inserted and where; these extensions will be trimmed off when the adjustments are complete. Add shims as needed and tighten the bolts securely before each test. Add (or remove) shims as needed for a perfect cut, and then trim off the excess shims.

Continue adjusting until the cutting blade sings and will cut a thin piece of paper easily. Be patient, as it will take time for a proper adjustment.

* Sharpening the Blades — The blades should be ground to the same angle as the original. In some cases, the grinder may want to remove stock from both the height and the width (thickness) of the blade. If the blades are in good condition, there should be little or no stock removal from the width/thickness of the blade to insure a solid, stable blade. Excessive grinding of the thickness will make the blade too thin and then difficult to adjust. Therefore, most sharpening should be done by only removing metal, for example from the top, from the height of the blade. In other words, for the bed blade, the sharpening would be to take a little off the top. If the blades are too thin from over-grinding, they will not lay flat and could pose a problem.

— Note that both blades are composed of two different hardnesses of metal: The main portion of the blade is a standard steel, but the actual cutting edges are a much harder metal that has been inlaid. Scratching the side and the top of the blade with a needle can show this hardness.

— Also note that most upper cutting blades are flat and wider along the bottom edge, thus providing extra strength for cutting binder board. Some other shear blades may have been sharpened like a guillotine blade with a point. Since the angle is acute, this style of blade is better suited for cutting only paper.

One final note: It would be a good idea to schedule an annual test of all bolts to be sure they are snug and tight. This is especially true for the foot-treadle bolts, as they seem to loosen first. ALSO, be sure that the bolts for the counter-weight are still tight.

The board shear is an important and essential tool in our bindery. It is the focal-point. It should always be in good condition for safe operation. Good Luck.

If there is a need for any further clarification, please let us know.

Sincere Thanks to Richard Baker for his assistance.

“]“]

John Jacques & Son 1923 Catalog, images courtesy of Joe Newman (1949-2007)

Note that the Box Makers' Shear is also available with a wood top. The company must have used the Strawboard Shear frame with later versions of the Box Makers' with a wood top.

Bookbinders' Shear (iron top)

The conference Bookbinding 2000 brought together an international audience of binders and bibliophiles to commemorate the installation of Bernard C. Middleton’s collection of books on binding and related arts at Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) Cary Graphic Arts Collection. Part of the proceedings consisted of twelve lectures or demonstrations. Of these, the RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press has released six in both VHS and DVD format. This review only covers Don Etherington’s “Fully Dressed in Leather: Conservation Style.” The others will be reviewed in upcoming Newsletters.

Let me start off by saying that this is by far the best bookbinding instructional video I have seen to date. Don presents the information clearly and fully, and the video quality and editing is top notch and of a fully professional production.

In the video, Don demonstrates just the covering of the book (smooth spine, hollow back) in full leather. However, prior to the actual demonstration he gives a detailed explanation of how the book was forwarded and the reason why it was done this way.  One detail is the beveled boards, which allow much thicker leather to be used and still end up with elegant and pleasing edges. I found that throughout the demonstration, Don’s explaining why he was using a certain process was extremely informative. Instead of just following a step-by-step course, I understood the underlying reasoning behind it.

Following this brief introduction, Don then covers the book in full leather. It is here that the excellent camera work and editing come into play. In his Abbey Newsletter (Vol. 24, No. 1) article, Terry Belanger comments on the filming of the Bookbinding 2000 demonstrations: “[T]he star of the show was a video camera on an articulated boom whose unseen operator could cause his instrument to buzz around the demonstrations.”

Throughout the demonstration you are clearly able to see what Don is doing. When a close-up is needed it is there and in focus. This attention to detail makes the entire demonstration easy to follow and understand.

Once the covering is completed, Don gives a brief explanation of what he would have done differently had the book been done with raised bands. Questions from the audience are closed-captioned.

Given the high quality of the demonstration (this is Don Etherington after all) and the quality of the filming, I can highly recommend the video. The pricing is also very reasonable, especially if bought as part of the six-DVD set.

Frank Lehmann is a bookbinder/conservator in private practice. He runs Lehmann Bindery, located in Northern San Diego County, which consists of himself and two dogs—and he has no delusions who really runs the place.

Thanks are due to the GBW Newsletter, where this review was originally published.

GOTHAM BOOKS  Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Hardcover, dust jacket, 5¾ x 8½ inches, 356 pages, U.S.$27.50, Can$32.00. ISBN 978-1-592-40652-4

An announcement of the publication of Just My Type caught my eye (the dust jacket design is striking) and I found myself smiling because it was somewhere out there in the world and not in a book related publication. It looked to be entertaining and informative, so I requested a copy to review.

I was enjoying reading it enormously until I came across another review  by Paul Shaw in ‘Inprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers’ which pointed out, on many occasions, that some of the information wasn’t true. That rather spoiled it and I put the book aside for several weeks, picking it up now and then to read a few pages or a chapter out of order.

Maybe it was Garfield’s humor that got up Shaw’s nose. Most of the time I really enjoyed the way Garfield presented the information and told the stories associated with the design of type. I do though have to agree with Shaw in taking exception to the statement, “And calligraphy is virtually gone, a craft Prince Charles is said to be keen on, hanging on grimly behind glass on the qualification certificates of quantity surveyors and chiropractors.” Shaw’s description is “snotty put-downs.” I just think Garfield is ill informed.

Just My Type is entertaining and informative. Apparently not all of the information is entirely correct, but overall I would say it is enjoyable and certainly taught me more about type design and has given me added reason to appreciate the work involved. This is not a history of type design, but does give historic information through chapters on various designers and observations on major shifts that have taken place as a result of technological changes in print communication.

Through my work as a binder I am aware of type design, but the stories Garfield tells have made me even more aware and did get me thinking of those early days, studying binding. We did so much work then with brass engraved hand held letters which were so incredibly expensive to purchase. Oh the hours we all spent trying to decide what type face to purchase and then what size. And the greatest disappointment was to find that what seemed a fail safe way to title a book, in the type face it was printed in, didn’t always look right or read well impressed with gold on a leather spine. The chapters in Just My Type illustrate similar specific examples of use which explains different typefaces’ use and influence.

This is a great read and will spark your curiosity to continue research. You will find yourself smiling when you pass the next road sign, turn on the computer or go to the grocery. The endpapers are the The Periodic Table of Typefaces and there is a bibliography to begin the list for more information.

I enjoyed this book so much I think GOTHAM BOOKS should publish another version with better reproductions of the examples and double check on the accuracy of all the information!

Gabrielle Fox is a bookbinder trained in England and now based in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Making Handmade Books and is now writing the history of Larkspur Press.

Thanks are due to the GBW Newsletter, where this review was originally published.

This experiment in creating a false grain for a re-backing leather was inspired by a conversation with Renate Mesmer. She had been looking for a way to create a simulated grain on a cast composite repair for a 19th century cloth spine and used the belt from a belt sander as her mould. (For a fuller explanation of cast composite repair techniques see the Book and Paper Group Annual, 2010, Grace Owen and Sarah Reidell, pp 98-105.) She was pleased with the results and showed them to me. Several months later, I was doing a leather re-back on a 19th century photo album. The sheep skin had a distinctive pebbly grain pattern and none of our leathers had similar surface characteristics. I decided to follow Renate’s belt sander example since the finish was similar to the cloth binding. I selected a piece of goatskin to use and pared it as usual. Once pared, I dyed it to achieve a close approximation of the original skin. When satisfied with the color, I got the skin damp and placed the belt sander belt against the grain, put them between blotters and pressing tins, and put everything in the press under moderate pressure for 30 minutes. The result was a surprisingly close approximation of the grain on the original skin. It was by no means an exact match, but it created a much less noticeable transition between the original leather and new when placed side by side on the book. I was concerned that during the actual re-backing the embossed pattern would be lost through wetting out and manipulating the skin. Predictably, some of the pattern was softened, but it retained most of its character and made a sympathetic repair. Pictured below is a piece of the leather. On the right is the original grain pattern and on the left is the embossed finish from the belt sander.

* This article was originally published in the Potomac Chapter September 2011 newsletter, Volume 7, Issue 2. Thanks to Dan Paterson and Linda Hohneke, Potomac Secretary and newsletter editor, for allowing us to republish here.

PhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Iowa

My research concerns the role religious women played in the production of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, as scribes, illuminators and early printers. It is commonly understood that much of the classical and Christian writing that survived from Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages was copied and preserved by monks. However, it is less well known that female scribes and illuminators accounted for a significant contribution to this production throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance and into the early modern period. Nuns also participated in the printing of books in the early decades after the advent of printing. It is these contributions, particularly the production of secular and religious texts by Italian nuns, which is the subject of my dissertation.

More than fifteen female religious houses have been identified as sites of book production in fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italy, and almost two thirds of these are located in Florence. Nuns’ book production in Renaissance Florence took place in a variety of female religious communities, including Dominican, Benedictine, Vallombrosian, Brigittine, Clarissan and Augustinian. One convent in particular, the Dominican house of San Jacopo di Ripoli, embodied both the technologies of manuscript production and printing. The San Jacopo nuns produced liturgical manuscripts throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, working on scribal production, musical notation and sometimes illumination. In the 1470s a printing press was also established at their house by two friars from San Marco, a male Dominican house on the other side of town (known for the famous friars associated with the house, Fra Angelico and Savonarola and its patronage by Cosimo de’Medici who commissioned a library there). The nuns played an important role in the patronage of this early Florentine press, providing a site for production, commissioning religious works and sometimes working as compositors, setting the type for secular works such as Pulci’s Morgante and perhaps other humanist and classical works as well. Active for eight years, the San Jacopo press was only the second press ever to be established in Florence and the first to produce a substantial body of work, printing over 100 secular and religious titles (12,000 volumes) as well as pamphlets and broadsides.

Colophon identifying nun-scribe Sister Angela, of the convent of San Jacopo di Ripoli, in a Florentine manuscript of c. 1500

At Le Murate, a Benedictine house in Florence’s Franciscan neighborhood of Santa Croce, the nuns produced devotional and liturgical manuscripts from the early 1470s through the sixteenth century. Some of these were luxury manuscripts, given as gifts to wealthy and influential patrons – for example, a Medici pope, wealthy local businessmen or aristocrat with family ties to the nuns in that house. As gift objects, these manuscripts created and solidified ties of patronage, connections that were essential to the financial survival and prestige of the religious community. Another site of book production was the Brigittine double monastery of Santa Brigida al Paradiso just outside of Florence, which housed both monks and nuns. The scriptorium was active during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, producing mostly devotional and theological texts, with at least 48 manuscripts identified with scribal signatures by Paradiso nun-scribes. Some Florentine women’s houses produced both scribal and illumination work.

My research concerns the role religious women played in the production of manuscripts and books – as bookmakers, scribes, early printers – and intellectual participants in the lives of their communities. Evidence of their work serves to remind us of women’s role in the transmission of classical and early Christian literature and also presents historians with a wealth of information concerning the nuns’ levels of education, literacy, religious and artistic life and practice. However, their contributions go beyond their own religious communities. The nuns’ intellectual and artistic pursuits, business acumen, as well as their ability to forge alliances through their craft production allowed them to survive, thrive and make a significant impact on life both inside and outside their convents. Nuns collaborated with secular male illuminators, religious counterparts and bookbinders to produce their books – from affordable early printed books for secular and religious readers, books for internal convent use and the education of the nuns, books for humanist book owners and members of other religious communities, to high end luxury manuscripts used to solidify ties of patronage. As the makers of books, the nuns of Renaissance Florence became essential contributors to the burgeoning community of scholars, artists and intellectuals who shaped Italian and European history in this period and into the modern era.

Melissa Moreton

PhD Candidate, Department of History

University of Iowa, Iowa City

melissa-moreton@uiowa.edu

Broadside produced for 2010 Standards, commemorating Gary Frost

We wanted to show the depth and range of Gary’s contributions to the field as well as impart at least a bit of the affection and respect those of us who have had the opportunity to work with him have.

Gary began his career with a deep immersion into the ways books operate and function in order to conserve them in the best possible manner. He still applies that knowledge to his work, but he has also widened his interests (as he always does) to encompass the history of the printed word and future of the book and of print in our digital age. We decided we wanted to convey the intersection of these interests and to show how deeply rooted they are in Gary’s thinking.

Gary was unbelievably generous with his drawings. We did not tell him what we were up to, merely asked if we could ‘use some of his drawings of books’. Going to his lab, we found a box full of beautiful drawings, ranging from observational pencil drawings to analytic pen and ink renderings to diagrammatic details. It was an amazing array. It was almost impossible to select a manageable number to print. We chose several that we felt showed the range of his work over the last forty years, and paired them with two recent quotations from Gary’s writing on the impact and relevance of the printed book. We, of course, had to include his favorite colors as well!

The images were printed from polymer plates and the type was hand set metal. Students and other UI faculty joined us for the typesetting, platemaking and printing; another testament to the regard all of us at the UI Center for the Book hold for Gary.

By Julia Leonard and Sara Langworthy

As someone who doesn’t live near the few stores in our country that are stocked with a wide variety of supplies and materials, it was a special treat to walk into the shop and be surrounded by all of this splendor.

In the first GBW blog post, Andrew Huot said that the blog is “for everyone interested in thinking about and making books.” Looking at the great variety in Relma certainly set my mind churning, I hope these photos do the same for you.

- Monica Holtsclaw