Pamela Spitzmueller

Medford, Massachusetts

Off-White Book

Textblock of book weight University of Iowa Oakdale handmade flax paper; sewn on twin double flax cords that are pegged into quarter cut white oak boards; covered in full Texas wild peccary, tawed by the binder, in a twelfth-century style with exaggerated tongue corners; edge sewn cap tabs; clasps of wide tawed straps with tassles on a brass fore edge peg. 13 x 10 x 8 centimeters. Created 1995.

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Pamela Spitzmueller was born in 1950, and before becoming Chief Conservator for Special Collections at Harvard University Libraries, headed Rare Book Conservation at the University of Iowa Libraries and worked as a book conservator at Library of Congress and at the Newberry Library. She trained with Gary Frost and William Anthony in Chicago, interned at Yale University Library, Library of Congress, and the University of Texas Academy of Book Conservation and Fine Binding with Anthony Cains. She specializes in historical book structures, and incorporates what she learns into conservation treatments for rare books and the creation of one-of-a-kind artist’s books.