Sunday, June 21 at 3:00 pm at SculptureCenter in Long Island City, NYC.

The Free Skool at the University of Trash announce Jeffrey S. Peachey’s presentation titled “The Obsolete Man and the Obsolete Book?” The University of Trash is an experiment in alternative architecture, urbanism, and pedagogy taking place in SculptureCenter’s main space. Throughout the summer there will be a mix of workshops, screenings, and presentations focusing on grass roots, self-organized urbanism, DIY architecture and the evolving aesthetics and politics of public space.
Peachey will screen an original Twilight Zone, “The Obsolete Man”, present a short lecture, then lead a discussion based on some of the issues it raises. Peachey is the owner of a New York City-based studio for the conservation of books.  Because of his experience in examining and treating a wide variety of historic book structures, he is especially interested in how humans have interacted with the physical form of the book over the past 1,600 years, the importance of non-texual information and how the book has acquired such symbolic power.  The images of books in this episode form a locus for a variety of issues—authority, freedom, history, truth, the state, individuality, identity and conformity—that are explored in a classic Serlingesque manner.
“I am nothing more than a reminder to you that you cannot destroy truth by burning pages.” Romney Wordsworth (Burgess Meredith) declares when the Chancellor (Fritz Weaver) pronounces him obsolete, and then condemns him to death.  Wordsworth, a secret librarian, lives in a room not only surrounded by books, but virtually built out them.  Considering aspects of book conservation, Peachey will deliver a short lecture touching on some of the ideas explored in the film, looking at how books are displayed in Wordsworth’s apartment, commenting on the various book structures portrayed and linking these to themes presented in the episode. Models of several historic book structures will available for handling. Then some more general observations on the value of non-textual elements of books will be made, along with the challenges of conserving these elements.
This will be followed by an open discussion.  Possible topics include questions about the supposed death of the codex; the importance of non-textual elements in books; books as physical expressions of authority; books as moving, portable hand held sculpture; books as democratic instruments; the display of books as externalized knowledge; hand interaction in reading; and most importantly, how closely is our culture inexorably linked with the history of the book.
This event is free, and there is a $5 suggested donation to the museum.

Jeff Peachey:

http://jeffpeachey.wordpress.com/

SculptureCenter:

http://www.sculpture-center.org/

Directions to SculptureCenter:

http://www.sculpture-center.org/visitDirections.htm

The University of Trash:

http://www.universityoftrash.org/

Attendees are encouraged to preview the entire Twilight Zone episode at:

http://www.imdb.com/video/cbs/vi759562265/

A lecture presented by Jim Bloxam, Senior Conservator, and Kristine Rose, Conservator, Cambridge University Library

Review by Clare Manias

In November last year, we welcomed Jim Bloxam and Kristine Rose from England to hear about their recent reappraisal of the St. Cuthbert Gospel of St. John. The little book, measuring just 3.5 by 5 inches, dates from the end of the seventh century and is the oldest surviving complete Western binding. It was found perfectly intact in the coffin of St. Cuthbert in 1104, more than three centuries after it was placed there. Until 1769 the book was kept at Stonyhurst College, hence its former name, but now it is owned by the Society of Jesus and is on permanent loan to the British Library.

The Gospel is written on parchment leaves sewn with a Coptic link stitch into beech boards and covered with red goatskin leather, and has primary, secondary, and tertiary endbands. The method of decoration on the front board is similar to an Islamic binding, while the motif is characteristic of British Insular art in the seventh century. The back board is decorated with a design influenced by Anglo-Saxon design. Artifacts with a similar pattern were found in Sutton Hoo, a site in southeast England where Anglo-Saxon relics from the sixth and seventh centuries were found. The inner boards are lined with parchment to compensate for the pull of the wet leather on the wood. This indicates that an experienced binder made the book.

Since there are no surviving contemporary bindings, it is impossible to know for certain the methods the binder used. Earlier studies of the manuscript, by Roger Powell and Peter Walters in 1969, determined that the book had many Eastern characteristics, including the Coptic link stitch sewing and primary endband, as well as the cover design. Powell and Walters also noted the V-cuts in the parchment sections, and determined that the sewing was done not with eight strands of thread passing through once, but four strands passing through twice.

The inspiration to look at the binding again came from Jim and Kristine’s teaching a workshop on making a model of the binding in Montefiascone. In order to teach the class, a more complete description of certain elements of binding was needed to make the model more accurate.

The problem with examining a fully intact binding is that there is no access to details, such as the
sewing pattern, under the leather covering. The only way to tell if the sewing, for example, is like the original is to feel the movement of the original and compare it to the model.

In this case, Jim and Kristine were not able even to handle the binding themselves because it is becoming so brittle. The examination was done under John Mumford, head of book conservation at the British Library, who handled the binding while Jim and Kristine asked questions.

Jim and Kristine were also able to take color photographs of the outside of the binding. These were the first photographs taken of the book since the black-and-white photos that Roger Powell and Peter Waters took for their study in 1969. The color photos reveal that the front board is not flat, as originally thought, but slopes from 3mm, at the central motif, to 2mm, at the board edge, so that the front and back boards seem to be of the same thickness.

Another aspect of the St. Cuthbert Gospel of St. John that Jim and Kristine shed light on was the material under the leather that makes up the buds in the panel of the plant motif. It was previously believed that the design of the buds was composed either of strips of leather or of cord pasted directly to the board. But the way the buds looked when built up this way did not have the smoothness of the original. After thinking about what materials the binder might have had lying around his bindery in approximately 690 CE, Jim and Kristine decided to try using gesso as the underlying material, and found it relatively easy to produce the desired shape with gesso. Also, when the gesso dried, it left a dimple in the shape, but when a second layer was applied, the dimple filled in nicely, leaving a little ridge where the two layers met, which followed the shape of the buds on the original.

We thank Jim and Kristine for sharing their research with us.

Review by Georgia Southworth

On November 15th the NY Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers was pleased to co-sponsor with Columbia University an evening lecture with Book Conservator Scott Husby, entitled “A Census of Bookbindings on Incunables.” Mr. Husby has been the Rare Book Conservator at Princeton University since 1997, and has over 30 years of conservation and bookbinding experience. He has taught binding classes, given numerous lectures, and curated binding exhibitions. His lecture in November covered his continuing research into the many distinguishing characteristics of original bindings found on textblocks printed up to 1500 and held in American libraries.

The crowd of conservators, binders, historians, students, librarians and dealers attending the lecture was indicative of how broad Mr. Husby’s area of research has become as it has grown through the years. The project, he explained, began innocently enough with his curiosity regarding the binding on a particular incunable that entered Princeton’s book conservation lab a number of years ago. Prompted to continue seeking by the lack of available information, Husby has by now examined over 11,000 bindings, with research ongoing.

Scott covered a lot of ground in his lecture, including how American-held incunables have been catalogued and that of the 11,000 examined, approximately 2,500 remain in their original Gothic bindings. He explained that a large proportion of these are German bindings, in comparison to Italian, French, English, or Spanish; many of them saved by a lesser regional tendency to rebind whole collections. Also, how textblocks and bindings do not always represent the same country of origin. He spoke about the varied styles and placement of clasps and closures, decorative tools, types of covering leathers and different woods used for boards. Accompanied by beautiful slides and a carefully developed and (staggeringly thorough) database, his lecture provided insight into many aspects of these bindings’ histories, including how the combination of details found on a particular binding helps the researcher determine the location and circumstances in which it was created. He hopes to make his database available in the near future, when it will undoubtedly become a great research resource for people across the book related disciplines.

The NY Chapter of the GBW would like to thank Scott for sharing his fascinating research, and to welcome him back as the project progresses.

Review by Frank Trujillo

Jim Canary, Head of Conservation at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, spoke about and led a workshop on papermaking, calligraphy and printmaking in Tibet and Nepal. The New York Chapter of the Guild of BookWorkers sponsored the events. In his well-attended talk at Columbia University, Jim gave an overview of his long and deep interest in the printing arts of the Himalayan region. A series of slides depicted Jim’s various visits to Tibet and Nepal, his search for and discovery of papermakers, calligraphers and printers, and continuing efforts to pass down their knowledge to a younger generation of craftspeople. Jim discussed the physical components involved in making paper and ink and had on hand a variety of examples of each. A video taken on Jim’s most recent visit to Nepal and Tibet showed how paper is made in the Himalayan tradition. The paper pulp is derived from the root of the stellera chamaejasme plant, a member of the Daphne family. A sheet of paper requires eight roots. Sheets are made on molds dipped into a slurry of pulp and water, removed and allowed to dry singly in the mold. The number of molds possessed limits the number of sheets made. The process requires a large amount of space, but is cinematic in its execution as Jim’s video proved. He captured a wonderful scene of seemingly hundreds of molds drying along a mountainside in Nepal. The video also showed the preparation of Himalayan paper for calligraphy and of birch blocks for carving. Calligraphic writing is often done with a mixture of gold and yak skin glue on a jet black burnished surface. The burnished area is a mixture of burnt larchwood soot, yak skin glue and cooked yak brains. The calligrapher burnished the mixture into the center of the rectangular sheet with a dzi stone. The edges of the sheet are often dyed with a rich application of indigo. The end product is a sturdy, traditional sheet of Himalayan paper.

The Himalayan Paper Workshop held at the New York Academy of Medicine a couple of days after Jim’s talk allowed the participants to put their newfound knowledge into practice. The workshop consisted of dyeing paper, block printing and burnishing paper with the combination of ink, glue and brains. Although one can find almost anything in New York, yak brains proved elusive so they were substituted with calf brains. Jim provided large quantities of Himalayan paper with which to work. Dyes were made of indigo, madder, tea, pomegranates, safflower and walnuts. Jim demonstrated how to twist and tie the paper to achieve various traditional Tibetan patterns. The grinding and cooking of several of the dyes created an eclectic mix of smells and equally eclectic efforts to associate them with familiar scents. The workshop was a freewheeling, fun session with Jim providing further insight and information on the paper arts in Tibet and Nepal. More information on this topic and Jim Canary’s efforts in the region can be found at www.paperroadtibet.org. Thanks to Maria Fredericks, Anne Hillam and Kristen St.John for organizing the talk and workshop.