Bookish Talk #3 – Looking for Bargains on Book Markets
Is it wrong to buy a book at a low price when you know its real (high) value? How do the street book sales in Bucharest and Sofia look like? What's special about the book market in the Hague?
Romania
Workshop Tour of Arta Cărții — Bookbinding Studio of Mihai Vârtejaru in Bucharest
Welcome to Arta Cărții! Or, at least that's how the workshop of Mihai Vârtejaru looked like almost three years ago. I planned to share these photos for quite a long time, and when I revisited Mihai's studio, everything was moved.work
What Makes a Book a Book?
My recent visit to the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) in Bucharest, Romania, had made me muse on what exactly the book is as a medium. There are purists who would tell you that codex (with some basic alterations) is the only valid format. In the modern world of electronic media, this view seems to me a bit narrow. Even more, if you consider the long and diverse history of the book, you will see that codex may be a prominent format today, but it is only a small part of all of the invented book formats.
Being Bookish in Bucharest
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.
Book History in Postage Stamps
During my stay in Romania this January I’ve started to make a short video about the first Romanian printed book. It is pretty hard to find any illustrations or photos that are allowed to be used in a blog post (due to copyright limitations and stuff). That’s why I’ve decided to check some alternative sources. I visited a couple of state-owned stamp dealers in Bucharest and was lucky to buy one of the stamps dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the first printed book.
The Anatomy of Restoration
Until the 2nd of April an amazing exhibition is open in Bucharest, Romania. Anatomia Restaurării (The Anatomy of Restoration) is dedicated to 25 years of conservation and restoration conducted at the the Muzeul Naţional de Artă al României (National Museum of Art of Romania).
