Pressing MatterThe Publication of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers

In This Issue:2011...What a Year. Now on with 2012! - Jennifer Rosner

The Page Illuminates: Book Highlights from the Internet - Valeria Kremser

Two Members / Six Questions - Meet DVC Members

Members Participate in Exhibitions

Eileen Wallace to Teach Workshop - Italian Accounting Books

February, 2012

What a Year!The Delaware Valley Chapter had another banner year. Shall we review 2011? In January 2011, we held a materials exchange. Everyone brought “stuff” that they were willing to trade for something else. Surprisingly, it didn’t turn into a free-for-all and everyone left happy. In March we held our Annual Meeting and had a very good turnout. After our meeting we played a memory-base drawing game. It was very entertaining and everyone went home with a small accordion book. In April, Graham Watson taught a workshop on wire-edged binding, a technique he has truly perfected. In late May, DVC member Todd Pattison gave his talk, “How do you Bind 3,000 Books in a Day? Benjamin Bradley and the Art of Publishers’ Cloth Bindings”, which was co-sponsored with the Library Company of Philadelphia. Then only a few days later we had the opening for our member’s exhibition “Philadelphia Artists Books Travel to Venice” at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Thirty members participated and the books went on to Venice in October. After organizing two great exhibits for our chapter, Alice agreed to be our Exhibitions Chair. Looks like we will be having more exhibitions! Later in June, ten DVC members toured the book conservation department at Winterthur, hosted by DVC member Chela Metzger. Around this same time, Valeria Kremser agreed to oversee our online presence. She set up a Facebook account and began managing our website. She also designed a really great logo for our chapter. After a quiet summer things got busy again in September. We had a great turnout for our first ever binding-bee. Fifteen members came and bound 75 catalogs for the “Philadelphia Artists Books Travel to Venice” exhibit. The bonefolders were flying! In November we were excited to have Pam Spitzmueller teach her workshop “Large Paper into Small Spaces: Constructing Books with Foldout Plates/Maps.” In December we had a fun social gathering and button-making workshop during which Hedi Kyle taught us how to make an attractive button presentation folder. Also, this past year we sent out three excellent newsletters. Whew! Busy year! We are an entirely volunteer organization, so my hearty thanks go out to everyone who helped with all these endeavors. Now on with 2012!

From our Chair: JenniFer rosner

Delaware Valley Chapter oFFiCers

Jennifer Rosner - President dvcgbw@verizon.netAlice Austin - Secretary, amaustin@mac.com Treasurer, ExhibitionsHedi Kyle - Workshops hedikyle@comcast.netDenise Carbone - Workshops dcarbone@amphilsoc.orgSharon Hildebrand -Newsletter shildebrand@mac.comValeria Kremser - Web boxturtlepress@gmail.com

Leslie and Tara look on as Pam Spitzmueller explains different ways to attach a folded sheet.

Maria and Rebecca enjoy the binding bee!

The beginning of 2012 brings our internet adventures to the end of 365: Make a Book a Day. http://make-a-book-a-day.blogspot.com is the bookbinding blog of Donna Meyer of Chloride, Arizona. This blog journals her daily attempts, “to make a book a day for a year, to stretch my imagination, creativity, skills and discipline.”

Inspired by Skull-a-Day, Donna has taken the idea of making something everyday, and has made a wide variety of books. She has allowed her self a broad interpretation of the word book, and has used a wide variety of materials form cereal boxes to animal hides. Besides experimenting with materials, she has also utilized a variety of binding structures.

Personally, it has been inspiring to see someone stick with a project for this long. Many others have taken up the task of making something everyday including bears, masks, and even paper mustaches. Could you make something every day for a year? Maybe in 2013.

You can find more information out about a Skull-a-Day at:http://skulladay.blogspot.com.

Valeria KremserBox Turtle Presshttp://www.boxturtlepress.com

The Page IllumInaTes: book highlights From the internet

Photographs from make-a-book-a-day.blogspot.comTop: Day 1; Bottom: Day 365

annual meeTIng 2012

March 13, 2012 5:30-7 p.m.The Library Company of Philadelphia

1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia PA, 19107 5:30 - 6:00 Wine and Cheese6:00 - 6:30 Meeting6:30 - 7:00 Fun Project

We hope you can make it! You can RSVP by email or phone: dvcgbw@verizon.net or

215-546-3181 - ask to speak to Jennifer

Delaware Valley Chapter news DVC members exhIbIT TheIr Work

Claire Owen and Nancy Nitzberg are represented in the national juried exhibition, “The Decorated Book,” at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Exhibit ends March 9. For more information visit:www.philaathenaeum.org

Nancy also has a book in the New England Chapter juried show, “Defined Bindings,” exhibited in Boston and California, and one in the Lone Star Chapter exhibition, “The Thread that Binds,” exhibited at SMU’s DeGolyer Library in Dallas, and The Museum of Printing History in Houston.

The Rome Project by Alice AustinAbecedarian Gallery, Denver, COFebruary 17 - April 7th 2012abecedariangallery.com

The Rome Series is the result of research done while Alice was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. Her project was to study the 1748 Giambattista Nolli map of Rome, and synthesize the character of the historic map with modern Rome. She recorded the patterns, geometry

and textures of the Nolli map sites through photos, drawings and paintings made at prominent sites from the map.

WelCome neW members:

Bruce Bumbarger, Pottstown, PAJon Sweitzer-Lamme, Haverford, PA

Reed Apostol, Malvern, PA

Two Members / Six Questions - Jamie Kamph & Carrie McNeal 1. How long have you been a member of the GBW? J.K. 30 years or more.

2. Where are you from originally? J.K. I was born in Princeton, NJ and now live on a farm in Lambertville, NJ.

3. When did you realize you wanted to learn bookbinding?J.K. I began collecting 17th-c. books in college; needless to say the books I could afford to buy were in poor condition. When I did invest in repairs, I’d have to send them to England, which would take forever. So I began to think about learning bookbinding. Then later when I had a publishing company in NYC, I was asked to write an article about hand bookbinding. In the course of researching the piece, I asked about possible teachers and decided to give this a try.

4. What is your favorite book structure these days? J.K. I’m a stickler for tradition: a 16th-century Swiss binding in the Princeton University Rare Books Collection is my model for a tight-spine, full-leather binding sewn on tapes or cords.

5. What are you working on right now? J.K. I’m gold-tooling a book to submit for the Guild’s Horizons show; I’m washing and rebinding a 17th-century copy of Evelyn’s discourse on trees, I’m patching the endpapers in a first edition David Copperfield, and sewing an early English edition of Don Quixote.

6. Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us. J.K. I play the harpsichord, drive an old Porsche (when it’s working), manage an organic farm (which I own), love to garden, collect old master drawings and books about bookbinding. Which doesn’t leave me much time to be surprising….

1. How long have you been a member of the GBW? C.M. I joined the Guild last summer (2011). I was a little slow on the uptake- I have been working with books since 2009!

2. Where are you from originally? C.M. I grew up in Iowa, and went to high school and college near St. Louis.

3. When did you realize you wanted to learn bookbinding? C.M. While doing an internship in the objects lab at the Missouri History Museum with Linda Landry, I joined her to bring one of the museum’s books to Richard Baker for conservation work. After meeting Richard and discovering that he taught weekend bookbinding classes, I was hooked!

Photo: Courtesy of Carrie McNeal

Photos: Courtesy of Jamie Kamph

4. What is your favorite book structure these days?C.M. I recently made a model of a 15th century Gothic structure in a class taught by Chela Metzger at the North Bennett Street School in Boston over the summer. I was very excited about my first chance to make shaped wooden boards. Currently, I would like to try the Islamic structure presented by Katherine Beaty at the recent GBW Standards Seminar in Boston, but haven’t had time yet.

5. What are you working on right now? C.M. Right now, I am in my second year in the Wintethur/ University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. I am a library and archives major under the supervision of Chela Metzger. I also have an additional concentration in the conservation of paper objects, which is supervised jointly by Chela, Joan Irving, and Jae Gutierrez.

My current projects include resewing and rebinding an eighteenth century children’s hieroglyphick Bible and a technical investigation of an 18th century German painted parchment binding (called a “Peasant’s Binding” or “Bauern Einbande.”)

6. Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us. C.M. I haven’t bought a “real” book since the end of summer, when I got an ereader. I feel like a traitor when I use it, but when you are a student who has to relocate every year, it is nice not to have to move boxes full of books!

Photos: Courtesy of Carrie McNeal

Laced and Tacketed Italian Account BooksA workshop with Eileen Wallace*

Account books are important historical artifacts, providing a rare glimpse into daily life from our recent and distant past. This workshop will look at historical examples of record keeping and account books and apply these traditional techniques to complete a model of a laced and tacketed account book structure modeled on examples found in the regional archives of Cortona, Italy and typical of Tuscan Italian ledger books from the 16th to 19th century.

A Survey of Italian Ledger BindingsFree Lecture and Reception

Friday March 25:30 to 7 p.m.

The Cassatt House1320 Locust Street

This event is co-sponsored with the Library Company of PhiladelphiaTo RSVP online: http://www.librarycompany.org/events/ledgerbindings.htm

*this workshop is currently full with a wait list.

uPComIng WorkshoP & leCTure

Photos: Courtesy of Eileen Wallace