Julia Miller is coming to town and we have two events coming up.

Lecture:
Early Book Structures and the Nag Hammadi Codices
Co-Sponsored by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers and the Library Company of Philadelphia
Held at the Library Company
1314 Locust Street
Friday, October 29th
Reception 5:30, Lecture at 6:00
Please RSVP to the Library Company (scroll down)

Workshop:
Nag Hammadi Codices: Single Quire Bindings
Sponsored by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers
There’s still space!
Click here for more details.

THE NAG HAMMADI CODICES: Single Quire Bindings

A workshop with Julia Miller

Saturday, October 30, 2010

9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Hosted by the Library Company of Philadelphia

1314 Locust St., Philadelphia

Members: $100 Non-Members: $125

Materials Fee: $35

The purpose of the class is to learn about early single quire structures, understand their importance to the early history of the codex, and touch on the use of such structures up to the present. The class will make a small replica binding of one of the Nag Hammadi Codices, which date from the 4th century C.E., using a variety of materials, including paper, leather and papyrus. The class will study the history of the find and learn about the structural variations among the 10 most intact extant covers. Leather paring skills are not necessary. Time permitting, participants will also make a sampler of the variety of tie and wrapping band attachment systems used on the Nag Hammadi codices. Images of eleven covers and models of several of the extant 11 covers will be available for examination. Handouts will include a reading list and other information on the Nag Hammadi bindings.

Julia Miller is now a book conservator in private practice after being a senior conservator on the staff of the University of Michigan conservation lab for ten years. Her focus has shifted from bench conservation to researching and teaching models of historical bindings. For several years she has volunteered her time to describe historical binding structures for two rare book collections at the University of Michigan. She has taught the Nag Hammadi workshop many times, including at the Paper and Book Intensive (2006), the Montefiascone School in Italy (2007), the University of the Arts (2008), and the Delaware and NY Chapters of GBW. She has traveled to Egypt twice in order to study the original covers of the NHC and to work on a conservation survey at the Coptic Museum, Cairo. She received aconservation publication fellowship from the Kress Foundation and FAIC in 2008 and has completed her handbook on identifying and describing historical bindings, to be published by The Legacy Press in November, 2010. Julia has received a fellowship at The Library Company to study and develop a typology of American scaleboard bindings based on examples in the collection.

SPACE IS LIMITED – SEND A CHECK TO HOLD YOUR PLACE

Click here for registration form

(scroll down for form)

Questions? bindery@librarycompany.org

September 5 – October 24

In September and October, the Skillman Library at Lafayette College is host to the exhibit, “Marking Time.” The exhibit showcases the diverse talents of Guild members and was curated by Guild Exhibitions Chair Karen Hanmer and juried by Jeffrey Altepeter, Melissa Jay Craig, and Peter Verheyen. The show opened at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis in May 2009 and will have traveled to nine venues across the country before closing at Emory University in March 2011.

The show features 50 works interpreting the theme of “time,” ranging from contemporary books of hours to celebrations of nature’s cycles to considerations of the end of time. Stunning leather bindings stand alongside edgy contemporary bindings that have been dyed, collaged, or incorporate photographs or handwriting. The show includes work in the codex format, complex folded structures, wooden constructions, hand-held toys, and sculptural objects. Text and imagery is produced by the most ancient and the most modern mark-marking methods—calligraphy, painting, woodcut, letterpress, and digital output.

An opening reception will be held on Sunday, September 26, from 2-4 pm in Skillman Library. At 3 pm in the Gendebien Room, exhibit curator Karen Hanmer will give a presentation. Hanmer is a Chicago book and installation artist, whose work is included in the collections of the Tate Britain, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Library of Congress, Graceland, and a number of college and university libraries, including Lafayette.

Questions: 610-330-5148 or archives@lafayette.edu
Directions: http://www.lafayette.edu/visit/maps-directions/
Also on exhibit: “Quilts in Glorious Color” by Liza Prior Lucy of New Hope

If you are planning to attend the GBW Standards Seminar this year, and haven’t registered yet, please do so now! There’s still space. If you are undecided, take a look at the great line up of presentations. It is going to be a really good conference. Click on the logo above for more information.

Hello Everyone,
I had a call from someone who is selling her father’s bookbinding equipment. Below is the information that she sent me along with her contact information:

We want to let our members know about an educational opportunity. This is a non-guild workshop.

REFRESHING DUTCH BINDINGS
September 25 and 26, 2010
9:30 – 4:30
Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia 19107
Workshop fee: @200.00 plus a charge for materials

Three different simple bindings developed over the years by Cor Aerssens using only paper and thin cardboard.

The simplified “Groninger Binding” is a full cardboard binding that doesn’t need covering and is beautiful in its simplicity with the natural cardboard, no endpapers, and no adhesives. It could be used as a conservation binding.

The Silly Binding is a version of the “crisscross binding”, formerly the “Secret Belgian Binding” by Anne Goy. The sewing threads of this non-adhesive binding are partially hidden in the “boards” and are visible on the spine.

The Wrapper Binding is a response to a book structure by Hedi Kyle. The wrapper provides its own sewing bands that bundle the loose sheets into a book block. It is basically a non-adhesive binding, but in this workshop the pages will be extended using double-sided tape.

If there is time left there will be a short explanation on the use of colored beeswax on cardboard and paper. Beeswax can function as a protective coating and add decoration.

We can have 8 students maximum.
Please email Hedi Kyle to enroll by clicking

HERE

We were fortunate that the volcano dust cleared in time to have Paul Johnson make it to Philadelphia this week. As you can see by the video and photos, great fun was had by all who came into contact with him!

Paul Johnson Talk

Mr. Johnson will bring a suitcase of pop-up books to show us. Some of the books are his own and some were made by others, including children. He will discuss the endless power of the book as an aesthetic, architectural form and its special fascination for people of all ages.
Please RSVP to Jennifer Rosner by clicking HERE
or call Jennifer at: 215-546-3181