We've discussed the collection on our live stream before, but this time we decided to have a professional comment on what is exhibited there. There are several amazing professionals working with the printing equipment in the Museum of Industry, and Armina Ghazaryan is one of them.
During this Bookish Talk, we discuss the Basler Papiermühle -- a late medieval papermill turned paper, printing, and bookbinding museum. Stepan visited this museum a couple of years ago. Still, it should give a good sense of what it looks and feels like.
Every once in a while the Museum Meermanno in the Hague (The Netherlands) brings a new temporary exhibition. This time they show the works of Quentin Blake, an artist, who had illustrated multiple books, including stories by the world-famous author Roald Dahl.
As in many other Eastern European countries, Romania had seen a steep decline in bookbinding craftsmanship in the post-Soviet years. There are some remarkable masters, including some younger bookbinders. However, book restoration and bookmaking are reasonably expensive services, and it is quite understandable that in one of the less developed European countries the demand is quite low.
Recently I have received an email from Elspeth Olson, the librarian and archivist for the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco, California. The museum explores the culture and tools of bookbinding, from its earliest forms to the changes and innovations of the industrial revolution. They also share stories of people who worked in binderies.
An exhibition devoted to female printmakers is open now at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library.
It took 15 years to gather Kathleen V. Roberts Collection of Decorated Publishers’ Bindings. Its hallmark being that books were chosen for their covers and arranged by decades. That way of organization gives a unique chance to see how the historical events affected book decoration and book production in general. It truly makes books a subject of an interdisciplinary study of art, history, design and commerce.
