Bookcloth: 1823-1980, by William Tomlinson and Richard Masters. 1997, Montecito Press. 160 pp., 66 tipped-in samples, cloth case, hardback, slip case. Limited ed. 1500 copies. The book will be published in January 1997. Available in England for £ 325 per copy, s&h included, from Dorothy Tomlinson, PO Box 17, Marple, Stockport, sk6 5fd, Cheshire, England.
Available in U.S. and Canada for $500 from Andrew Tomlinson, Montecito Press Inc., 2957 East Valley Rd., Montecito, CA 93108. Check or money order accepted.
A study of the early use and the rise of manufacture of bookcloth - Winterbottom's dominance of the trade in Britain and America - its production methods and costs - and the identification of qualities and designs. William Tomlinson, the author, had spent 50 years in the bookcloth trade with Winterbottom's and with Red Bridge. After his death in 1992, the completion and editing were taken over by Richard Masters.
Alchemy & Marbling, by Karli Frigge. 1996, Ra Joppe, The Netherlands. 75 pp., 22 pp. introduction with 24 tipped-in samples of 'the most miraculous marbles you have ever seen'. 26 x 28 cm. 100 copies, bound by the author with parchment strips on a leather spine, according to the old Dutch bookbinding methods. Black slipcase. Price: NLG 450 (approx. $225). Available from: Karli Frigge, Lochemseweg 75, 7215 Ra Joppe, the Netherlands.
Recollections: My Life in Bookbinding, by Bernard Middleton, 1996, Bird & Bull Press, Newtown, Pa. Tall octavo, 105 pp., forward by Dr. Marianne Tidcombe. Includes many personal views and eight full-color plates of Middleton's design bindings. Quarter-bound in morocco with decorated sides in a cloth slip-case, $325 + s&h; in sheets, $250 + s&h. From The Bookbinders' Warehouse, 31 Division St., Keyport, NJ 07747, 908 264-0306.
A History of Reading, by Alberto Manguel, Viking, 372 pp., illus. $26.95. The New York Times (Tues., Dec. 3, 1996) reviewer says, "....Well, Mr. Manguel - a writer, editor and translator - has written a history of reading, not the history of reading perhaps, but a highly subjective and highly entertaining overview that leaves us with both a new appreciation of our own bibliomania and a deeper understanding of the role that the written word has played throughout history, from the first clay tablets (circa 4000 B.C.) found in Mesopotamia through the advent of the CD-ROM computer disk."
Booked to Die, by John Dunning, Chas. Scribner, Macmillan, 1992, is a mystery story that deals with book scouts, book dealers and collectors, and a murder. Well-written, pace-paced, full of book lore. It is now in an Avon paperback. Mr. Dunning has also written The Bookman's Wake, a more complicated and ultimately less interesting tale, but it puts out a lot of bookbinding information in the course of the narrative. The detective, Cliff Janeway, a book-loving ex-cop is in both books.
Robin Price, Printer & Publisher, Fine Press and Artist's Books Autumn 1996. Available from Robin Price, Printer & Publisher, Starr Mill, Beverly Hts., Middletown, CT 06457; ph: 860 344-8644; fax: 344-0344; e-mail: rprice@wesleyan.edu
Dressing The Text: The Fine Press Artists' Book exhibition catalog. 1996. Santa Cruz, 56 pp., 49 b/w photos. Introduction by Gary Young, drawings by Ruth McGurk, woodcut by Gene Holtan. saddle-stitched, red paper cover. $12 + $2.50 s&h. The exhibition, which opened at the Printers' Chappel of Santa Cruz last April, is now scheduled to travel for the next two years, beginning with Scripps College, then to Ohio University, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, UC Santa Barbara, Brown University and Mills College. Available from The Printers' Chappel of Santa Cruz, 318 Rigg St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Make checks payable to: Ruth McGurk, The Printers' Chappel of Santa Cruz. For information, call Peter Thomas at 408 475-1455.
Quarry West 32: From Poet to Printer: William Everson & The Fine Press Artists' Book. 1996, Santa Cruz. 122 pp., 57 b/w photos, perfect bound, letterpress cover of multi-colored woodcut by Daniel O. Stolpe. $14.95 + $2.50 s&h. Available from The Printers' Chappel of Santa Cruz, 318 Rigg St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Make checks payable to: Ruth McGurk, The Printers' Chappel of Santa Cruz. For information, call Peter Thomas at 408 475-1455.
Books Up My Sleeve: Hidden Treasures from Warwick Press, 15 books and two posters from Caroll Blinn's Warwick Press. Most of these books were designed, illustrated, letterpress printed, and hand bound by Carol Blinn. Warwick Press, PO Box 70-a, Easthampton, MA 01027; ph. & fax: 413 527-5456.
Designer Bookbinders Newsletter, #96 Autumn 1996, "The Rigid Concave Spine: Time to throw Away Your Backing Hammer" by James Brockman gives brief but complete instructions with diagrams. William Minter's article on "Bookbinding Thread Specification" outlines the difficulties of establishing specifications for linen thread and that Don Guyot has been studying the problem, with plans to establish specifications. Gemma O'Connor, former Oxford bookbinder and restorer, has published Falls the Shadow, Poolbeg Press Ltd., Dublin 1996 - full of delicious bookbinding details. Finally, Philip Smith gets a little cranky about what ought to be considered a book in "The Whatness of Bookness."
DB Newsletter, #97 Winter 1996, Report on International Exhibit of Crossed-Structure Binding, "Plat Dessus, Plat Dessous," in Paris in June. Report on Guild of Flemish Bookbinders Competition. Notice of 1996 Bookbinding Competition exhibition at the British Library, 6 Dec 1996 to 13 Feb 1997. Mark Home responds to Philip Smith's "The Whatness of Bookness" with his own detailed 'definition of a book'.
Morocco Bound (NSW Australia) Guild of Craft Bookbinders August 1996, Jean Riley on "Italian Incunabula," a lengthy, meaty abstract of her M.A. thesis.
Paper Conservation News, Number 78 June 1996. Interview of Jane McAusland, full of information on her and her conservation practices. "Rajasthani Papers - Old and New." New paper and book conservation studios at the Victoria and Albert. Japanese-inspired technique for lining iron gall ink drawings, with directions and diagrams.
PCN, #79 September 1996. "Around the World of Globes with Sylvia Sumira." Descriptions of The Staatliche Akademie der bildenden Kunste, Stuttgart and The Institut fur Erhaltung von Archiv und Bibliotheksgut, Ludwigsburg, Germany. Methods & Techniques: Aqueous treatment of damaged 19 century manuscripts from the Manuscript Project at Gottingen. Reports on Symposium on The Historic Framing & Presentation of Prints, Drawings & Watercolours in London, 10 June 1996; The Society of Archivists 1996 Annual Conference in Edinburgh, and British Association of Paper Historians Seventh Annual Conference, July in Edinburgh.
Binders' Guild Newsletter, Vol XIX-No. 3, April, 1996. Priscilla Spitler & Mindell Dubansky's Tuscaloosa presentation on Approaching Contemporary Edition Binding. Excerpts from The Great Omar, the ill-fated bejeweled masterpiece first completed in 1912 by J.H. Stonehouse. Nice description of George Bayntun Bookbinding, the last of Bath's (England) famous Victorian binderies in family hands.
BGN, Vol XIX-No. 4, June, 1996. Jim Dorsey's usual detailed, meticulous study of Danish Millimeter Binding (presented at Tuscaloosa GBW Seminar in 1995 by John Hyltoft).
BGN, Vol XIX-No. 5, July, 1996. Susan Lunas' Casing-in Techniques explained with diagrams. MFA in Book Arts at Univ. of Alabama School of Library & Information Studies. List of Useful Addresses includes most suppliers of materials and equipment for bookbinding.
BGN, Vol XIX-No. 6, September, 1996. John Mitchell's Edge Gilding presentation at the Dallas GBW Seminar; Sam Ellenport briefly on Edge Gauffering and Fore-Edge painting.
The Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild Newsletter, Vol 14, No. 3 Autumn 1996. Dominic Riley on "Woodtalk, a brief historical outline of the wooden-boarded bookbinding structure." Simplified (leather) Dustjacket by Bruno Valls Gabaud with instructions and diagrams. Arthur W. Johnson on Paper: Part 2, Handmade papers, special papers, papers in general.
Reliures et Papiers, Revue de L'Association des Relieurs du Quebec (in French), Vol. 112, No. 2 automne 1996. Tributes to and illustrations of bindings of Pierre Ouvrard and Simone Benoit Roy. "Technique de doublage des tissus," par Nicole Billard, relieure.
Paper Crafters: The How-to Publication for Paper Crafts Enthusiasts, Issue 1, Vol. 3, First Quarter 1996. Many articles, instructions and/or tips and techniques on many aspects of the paper arts. Full of useful ads.
The Ampersand, Vol. 15, nos. 3 & 4, Spring & Summer 1996. Several PCBA spokesmen write on "Selling your work." Dominic Riley, Steven Lavoie and Grey Brechin discuss the controversial new San Francisco Public Library. Articles on "Book Art Galleries of the West" and "Lottery Ephemera."