The Queen Esther Mosaics of Lilian Broca

Via the Jewish Book Festival, taking place at 950 West 41st Avenue in Vancouver, BC, we have a special book launch and reception that friends of the Alcuin Society won't want to miss:

The Hidden and the Revealed: The Queen Esther Mosaics of Lilian Broca
Lilian Broca, Sheila Campbell, Linda Coe, Yosef Wosk
Sunday, November 27, 2011 - 8:00pm
FREE

“Seven years in the making, The Queen Esther Mosaics contribute to the vital historic task of what the biblical scholar Naomi Graetz called for in S/He Created Them: Feminist Retelling of Biblical Tales: ‘. . . to put women voices back where they should have been in the first place.’” - Judy Chicago

Lavishly illustrated, The Hidden and the Revealed: The Queen Esther Mosaics captures the shimmering brilliance of artist Lilian Broca’s monumental Queen Esther Mosaic Series. Created in classical Byzantine style but with contemporary sensibility, Broca’s mosaics give life to the complex personality of Esther who rose from shy obscurity to become her people’s savior.

Archaeologist, art historian, and curator Sheila Campbell has published widely on ancient and contemporary mosaics and Byzantine art. A Professor Emerita at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, she has curated many exhibitions, including a showcase of the Scuola di Mosaici (Friuli, Italy) at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Linda Coe (book designer) A graduate of the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University), Coe has worked as a professional graphic designer for over thirty years and has taught design courses at Emily Carr University, the University of British Columbia, and at various workshops. She is a former President, a longtime Charter member, and a Fellow of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, BC Chapter.

Scholar, rabbi and SFU professor, Yosef Wosk, took inspiration from Broca’s mosaics to create a lyrical prose-poem in the voice of Esther, so striking and unique the work must be read for itself to be fully appreciated. The prose is accompanied by scholarly notes illuminating Wosk’s extensive investigation of biblical, rabbinical, comparative religious, and mythological aspects of the Esther story.

On the same Sunday, Karen X. Tulchinksy, Revital Shiri-Horowitz, Joel Bakan, and even Curious George!

Curious George – children's event and art exhibit
Sun, Nov 27 - 2:00pm
FREE
at The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

For children ages 3-6, parental supervision required.

All kids love the stories of Curious George and his mischievous antics. So bring them for an afternoon of literary fun - Curious George-style! This special event includes story-telling, a reading from Curious George Rides a Bike, a musical singalong and a chance for parents to view a unique exhibit (open from 1-4pm) – The Wartime Escape – Margret and H.A. Rey’s Journey From France. This exhibit, in Vancouver for just six weeks, recounts the story of Curious George creators, Margret and H.A. Rey, who escaped from Nazi-occupied France.

To reserve a spot for your child please call the VHEC (604) 264-0499 or email info@vhec.org.

For more events from the Jewish Book Festival in Vancouver, visit their website.

Alcuin Society Award Winning Book Designs and Markus Fahrner exhibit in Port Coquitlam

Here's your last opportunity to see an exhibition of the 2010 Alcuin Award winners in the Lower Mainland.

Leigh Square Community Arts Village in Port Coquitlam, BC is hosting this final exhibition for The Alcuin Society. Along with it, at a reception on Saturday, December 10th, you will have an opportunity to meet book artist Markus Fahrner, designer of the 2009 and 2010 Alcuin Awards catalogues, who will have an exhibit of his own.

Children are most welcome to attend during the reception Saturday, December 10th, as there will be demonstrations regarding children’s illustrations, storytelling, and book binding.

For a complete press release for the event, click here.

Leigh Square Arts Village is situated in downtown Port Coquitlam, in the courtyard right next to Port Coquitlam City Hall.

We hope to see you there!  

Exhibition Dates: December 2, 2011 – January 16, 2012

Reception: Saturday, December 10 at 2pm (includes children’s illustrations and storytelling and book binding demo) 

Location: Leigh Square Arts Village

#1100 - 2253 Leigh Square Place (map and directions)

Port Coquitlam BC  V3C 3B8 

Open Daily except for statutory holidays.  

Free Admission

Upcoming in Toronto

I'm passing this on via the CBBAG Bulletin Board; I'm told this event is likened to Toronto's Wayzgoose!

OCAD University 27th Annual Book Arts Fair

GREAT HALL at 100 McCaul St., Toronto
Saturday, December 3, 2011, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
OCAD University is proud to present the 27th Annual Book Arts Fair. Exhibiting the work of artists, printmakers, bookbinders and others involved in creating handmade books and paper, zines and small press publications. For further information contact: bookartsfair@gmail.com
No website, but you can visit the facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=218680814858006

Applications for this event are still being accepted until Nov. 25th, 2011.
Price for a full table is $40, a half table is $25.

Visit the CBBAG table at the book arts fair.

I also spotted the Small Press of Toronto (SPoT) is having a fair mid-December as well; Winter Fair Registration is currently underway:

Everyday we find our mailbox clogged with registrations for the SPoT Winter Fair, which is very exciting! If you haven’t registered for the fair, please do so quickly, as table space is running out.

Send us and email at smallpressoftoronto@gmail.com for more info. 

Extra, Extra! Book Auction Next Saturday!

This is to remind you that the annual Alcuin Society book auction takes place on November 12, 2011.


Our deadline to RSVP for lunch just passed, but the general public is welcome to attend the event. Aside from the member's lunch, admission to the auction is free and open to the public.

Hint hint: It's a great place to look for Christmas gifts!

Here is a list of the books that we'll be auctioning, along with their list prices. You are generally able to get these books for considerably less - depending on who else bids on them! And of course, all funds go to support the society's book design competition, so your investment is money well spent!

We hope to see you there!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

11:30am: Auction Preview
12:00 noon: Lunch
1pm: Auction

University Golf Club
5185 University Blvd. Vancouver, BC

 

For information contact info@alcuinsociety.com or awards@alcuinsociety.com. 

Looking back at Wayzgoose

It's been a week since our Wayzgoose printing fair at the Vancouver Public Library, and we trust everyone who attended enjoyed themselves! We saw a few reports come through on the web, so we thought we'd provide a roundup.

First, big thanks go out to Richard Kegler of p22.com who screened his film Making Faces about Jim Rimmer last Friday evening. Also present were the Rimmer family, who received the Robert R. Reid medallion on Jim's behalf. (the award was granted in 2010, but the medallion was only finished earlier this year).




Our own flickr photoset below of Saturday's book fair provides a visual record of the event (captions still need to be added to the photos, hopefully soon!).




Next, a few blog posts: Jim Westergard came in from Alberta where he showed his new book, ODDBALLS, printed and published Heavenly Monkey. Gary Sim gave a linocut demonstration, printing upwards of 50 printing keepsakes on a hand press, and generously donating one of his own prints in support of the event. Thanks, Gary!

The newly formed Lower Mainland Chapter of the BC Book Arts Guild made an appearance, alongside Jose and Dave from BC Islands CBBAG Chapter who manned the table beside them. Markus Fahrner, who has designed our spectacular Awards catalogs for 2009 and 2010, displayed an array of his book designs. Over on the East Coast, Crystal Vaughan posted a series of articles about the Wayzgoose at Gaspereau Press.

That is but a brief summary of the 2011 event; as our event is a biennial one, we hope to see you at our next Wayzgoose in 2013!

Wayzgoose Countdown!

Our bi-annual Wayzgoose printer's fair at the Vancouver Public Library, Central branch (Library Square) is coming up next weekend!

The details for our upcoming event have already been posted here,  and in addition, a second post covered the details of our special film screening on Friday, October 21 honouring the legacy of Jim Rimmer. The Rimmer family will be in attendance to accept the Robert R. Reid medal for Jim's lifetime achievements in Canadian Book Arts.

Briefly again, here are the details for Friday night's film screening: 

What: Public screening of the film "Making Faces: Metal Type in the 21st Century"
When: Friday, October 21, 2011 - 7:00 pm
Where: Labatt Hall, Room 1700
Harbour Centre
Simon Fraser University Vancouver
515 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Cost: Free Admission – limited seating
Please RSVP by calling
778.782.6704 or emailing library@sfu.ca

Here is a PDF flyer for the film event.


And here is a quick recap of our main Wayzgoose event on Saturday:

What: Alcuin Wayzgoose printing fair

Where: Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia, Vancouver
When: 22 October, 2011, 10:00am until 4:00pm.
Cost: Admission is free.

This is a great opportunity to meet the men and women behind British Columbia's creative book arts community, when a host of fine presses gather together in the same room to show their wares! You can follow along on our Facebook event page here. 

Gary Sim has shared a preview of one of the printing keepsakes he has prepared, which you might be able to acquire on Saturday.  As well as giving a linocut demonstration during the day, Gary will also be printing these throughout the day on Arches Text Wove 120gsm paper, or perhaps on some Reg Lissel paper, Japanese paper, or BFK Rives print paper. They will be numbered, and signed in pencil. Thanks Gary, and to all the other demonstration artists!This includes Phyllis Greenwood on marbling, Reg Lissel on paste papers, and perhaps more!

I am also pleased to announce that at some point during the day on Saturday, we will also be offering one copy of the Gaspereau Press book Memories from the Composing Room Floor by Jim Rimmer. At some point during the day, a question will go out via Twitter related to Jim Rimmer's life and work. The first person to answer the question wins a copy of the book!  

Hint: It might help if you're there to watch the film Friday evening!

Speaking of Gaspereau Press, if you are on the other side of the country, perhaps you can catch the other Wayzgoose, happening in Kentville, Nova Scotia! Details here.


Finally, please help to spread the word; next month we're having our annual fundraiser book auction at UBC University Golf Course. I'll post a more detailed post about the auction in the weeks ahead, but here are the important details to remember.

Saturday, November 12, 2011
University Golf Club
5185 University Boulevard
Vancouver, British Columbia
Books will be available for viewing from 11:30 am
Lunch will be served at 12:00 pm
Auction begins at 1:00 pm
$20 per person inclusive if you wish to stay for lunch; RSVP for lunch is required.

Contact Leah at awards@alcuinsociety.com or 604.732-5403.

Alcuin Award Winning Books at World Book Design exhibit in Tokyo

We were quite please to receive word from the Embassy of Canada in Japan, informing us of a privileged honour. The Printing Museum in Tokyo will organize an exhibition called "World Book Design 2010-2011" and they will feature the Alcuin Society Book Design Award winners from 2010 as part of their display. The Printing Museum learned of our award through the Canadian Embassy's website in Japan, announcing the display of the winner's books and they decided to include it into their exhibition. Thanks go out to our contact at the Embassy, and the Printing Museum for including us in the exhibition!

This exhibition will showcase the best book designs from all over the world and this year it will pick the following competitions from seven countries:

Japan: The 45th Japan Book Design Exhibition
Germany: Die schönsten deutschen Bücher 2010
Holland: De Best Verzonrgde BOeken 2010
Switzerland: Die shönsten schweizer Bücher 2010
China: The Beauty of Books in China 2010
Canada: Alcuin Society Book Design Award 2010
Austria: Die schönster Bücher Österreichs 2010

Here are the exhibition details:

World Book Design 2010-2011
Date: November 12, 2011 (Sat) to Feb. 19, 2012 (Sun)
Venue: Printing Museum, Tokyo P&P Gallery
Time: 10:00-18:00
Admission: Free
Organizer:
    Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
    Printing Museum, Tokyo
Support:
    Goethe Institute, Tokyo
    Japan Book Publishers Association
    Japan Federation of Printing Industries
    Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken
    Bundesamt für Kultur Wettbewerb Die schönsten Schweizer Bücher
    Stiftung buchkunst, Frankfurt am Main undeipzig

And here is the official summary of exhibition:

14 award winning books from the "Most Beautiful Book in the World" competition held in German Leipzig and selected books from "regular winning countries" like Japan, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and China. This year books from Canada and Austria will be added and total number of the display will be about 240. Visitors will be able to touch and feel books.   

Contact person:
    Printing Museum, Tokyo
    Ms. Minako Teramoto
    Tel: 03-5840-2301, Fax: 03-5840-4567
    website

A Tribute to Jim Rimmer

Next month, the Alcuin Society hosts a number of key events, including two awards ceremonies, one in Toronto and one in Vancouver. In addition, we will be hosting our biannual Wayzgoose printing fair at the VPL Library Square on October 22. Leading up to this event, we are also having a film screening of Richard Kegler's film Making Faces: Metal Type in the 21st Century on Friday evening at SFU Harbour Centre. Richard Kegler will be present to introduce the film.

Here are the event details, and a PDF flyer.

Friday, October 21, 2011 - 7:00 pm
Labatt Hall, Room 1700
Harbour Centre
Simon Fraser University Vancouver
515 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Refreshments following the presentation.

Free Admission – limited seating
Please RSVP by calling
778.782.6704 or emailing library@sfu.ca

For further information contact:
Eric Swanick
Head, Special Collections
WAC Bennett Library
Simon Fraser University
Tel: 778.782.4626

Edward Gibbon and the Age of Quarto

We just received word of a show at Queens University in Ontario on now until December entitled Edward Gibbon and the Age of Quarto.

From wikipedia: Edward Gibbon (27 April 1737^{[notes 1]}  – 16 January 1794) was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. The Decline and Fall is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open denigration of organized religion. source

Quarto (abbreviated 4to or 4°) is a book or pamphlet produced from full 'blanksheets', each of which is printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded two times to produce four leaves (that is, eight book pages). Each printed page now presents as one-fourth size of the full blanksheet.

The earliest known European printed book is a quarto, the Sibyllenbuch, believed to have been printed by Gutenberg in 1452–53, before the Gutenberg Bible, surviving only as a fragment. Quarto is also used as a general description of size of books that are about 12 inches tall, and as such does not necessarily indicate the actual printing format of the books, which may even be unknown as is the case for many modern books. source

WHERE:
W.D. Jordan Special Collections and Music Library
Douglas Library, Level 6/floor 2
also exhibiting one case at Stauffer Library, ground floor
University Avenue at Union Street
Queen’s University, Kingston Ontario

WHEN:
September 21 - December 2, 2011
9am-9pm Monday - Thursday
9am-5pm Friday
1-5pm Saturday - Sunday
(closed October 8 & 10)
Tel: 613-533-2584

Thanks Chester!

Alcuin Book Sale Fundraiser

The Alcuin Society is pleased to present a special online book sale of fine hardcover editions from The Folio Society. The Folio Society has been publishing beautiful editions of classic titles since 1947. Also included in this sale are 7 leather-bound books from the Franklin Library, from the late 1970s.

Almost all books in this sale are priced at a very reasonable $20 each, with a few titles marked down to $10, and a few more marked up to $30 for books in like new condition or $40 for double volume titles. All titles have been donated from a private collection and most books will have a small inscription of the owner's name & date of purchase inside the front cover, beyond which they are in very good overall condition. Books noted "as new" are unread and without inscription. Thanks Nick for the generous donation!

The proceeds from this sale will go to support The Alcuin Fund and the Alcuin Society's continuing efforts in the promotion of the Canadian book arts scene.

Please take a look at the list of titles offered for sale in this shared Google document:

All book titles are available immediately, with the remaining titles for sale at our upcoming Wayzgoose event at Vancouver's Library Square on Saturday, October 22, 2011.

Email us to request a title, and thereafter the titles will be marked on the list as SOLD.

Local pickup of the books can be arranged, they can be reserved for pickup at our Wayzgoose event, or if necessary, each book can be mailed for a small fee of $5, slightly more for the heavier books and sets.

Happy book hunting!

Wayzgoose is Coming

We are pleased to announce that our biannual Alcuin Wayzgoose printing fair will take place on 22 October, 2011 at the Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia, Vancouver from 10:00am until 4:00pm. Admission is free. This is a great opportunity to meet the men and women behind British Columbia's creative book arts community, when a host of fine presses gather together in the same room to show their wares! We now have a Facebook page for the event here. The following will be present: 

Fine Presses:

Alden Press
Barbarian Press
Bowler Press
De Walden Press
Les Editions Lucie Lambert
Greenboathouse Press
Heavenly Monkey
Isto Press
Mother Tongue Publishing
Pie Tree Press
Poppy Press
Andrea Taylor
Charles van Sandwyk



Book artists:

Steven Calvert
Fahrner & Fahrner
Emma Lehto
Charles Mayrs
Gabriella Solti
Marlene Yuen

Demonstrations are another key component of Wayzgoose, and we have three demonstrations this year. Paper marbling, paste papers, and linocuts to be precise! This is your chance to see the creative process hands on and ask any questions you might have.

Demonstrations:

Phyllis Greenwood on marbling
Reg Lissel on paste papers
Gary Sim on linocuts

Stay tuned as there will be even more to follow as the date approaches.

The Robert R. Reid Award. Photo credit: Peter Lattimer

Furthermore, on Friday evening, 21 October 2011 at Simon Fraser University (Harbour Centre), we are pleased to present Richard Kegler of the type foundry P22 who will introduce and show his film 'Making Faces: Metal Type in the 21st Century'. Following the film the Robert R. Reid Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Book Arts will be awarded to the Rimmer Family on behalf of the late Jim Rimmer.



For additional information or questions please contact Eric Swanick at Simon Fraser University 778.782.4626

ps: If you find yourself on the East Coast of Canada, Gaspereau Press is also hosting their own Wayzgoose celebration on the same date, October 22, 2011 in Kentville, Nova Scotia.

Glenn Goluska, 1947–2011

Glenn Goluska judging the Alcuin Awards for Excellence in Book Design
in Canada, March 2007. Photograph by Jason Vanderhill

On Saturday, August 13, 2011, the book arts community lamented the loss of Canadian book designer, typographer, and letterpress printer Glenn Goluska who passed away in Montreal after a battle with cancer.

Glenn was this year's winner of the Alcuin Society's Robert R. Reid Award which recognized his lifetime achievement and contributions to the Book Arts in Canada. He received the award earlier this year in a private presentation ceremony in Montreal.

This was certainly not the first time his work has been acknowledged. In fact, Glenn was winning awards before the Alcuin Awards even existed. As mentioned on Nigel Beale's blog recently, while he was working for Coach House Books in Toronto in 1978, he won an AIGA Award for Book Design for BP Nichols’ Journal. 

The first year the Alcuin Awards for Book Design were issued was in 1981, and Glenn was one of only three designers to receive the honour. He received his award in the prose category for the book A Trip Around Lake Huron by David W. McFadden, published by Coach House Books. The other winners were Frank Newfeld for Down to Earth: Canadian Potters at Work, and Tim Inkster for McAlmond's Chinese Opera.

Glenn would continue to attract the judges attention over the years. He was honoured again in 1985, with the book Inner Necessities: The Letters of David Jones To Desmond Chute. In 1992, he was honoured twice; once for Parables and Other Allegories: The Work of Melvin Charney, 1975-1990, and again for Publications de l'Avant-Garde Soviétique; Dessins d'architecture de l'avant garde russe, 1917-1935. In 1994, he was honoured for the book Eadweard Muybridge et le panorama photographique de San Francisco, 1850 - 1880. In 1995, he was honoured for the book Cités de l'archéologie fictive: oeuvres de Peter Eisenman, 1978-1988. In 1999, he received honourable mention for the book Carlo Scarpa Architect: Intervening With History.

Robert Bringhurst writes on page 98 of The Surface of Meaning: Books and Book Design in Canada about Glenn's publication Liebhaber's Wood Type, which was an excerpt from the Robert Kroetsch novel What the Crow Said:

In 1987, Glenn Goluska created a typographic tour-de-force part of a novel by Robert Kroetsch, and the same inventiveness could easily be visited on the work of Atwood or Lee. In most cases, however, this would probably turn out to be irrelevant intrusion. Goluska's showpiece is relevant indeed, and not at all intrusive, because the episode he chose from Kroetsch's novel concerns a small-town printer having a medicine fight with his type. Goluska entered quite straightforwardly into the spirit of Kroetsch's work - in effect producing a typographic play for which Kroetsch had written the script. Most novels, however, are not about typographers or printers. And even in ardently self-enchanted historical periods such as ours, most writing is not about writing.  

Other tributes to Glenn are now appearing across the web, and on the Fine Press Book Association's blog, Paul Razzell writes:

This spring, as I was putting Parenthesis 21 to bed, I was presented with an opportunity to run a gallery of a few of Glenn’s book and poster designs. As I pulled this illustrated article together, I feared that it would turn out to be an obituary of sorts, and so it turned out to be. I am sad that Glenn won’t see this feature appear in Parenthesis 21, which comes out next month, but I am very glad to be able to share his work with readers of Parenthesis.

As an added tribute, the entire issue is set in a brand new typeface called “Goluska,” designed by Glenn’s friend, Canadian type designer Rod MacDonald. This will be the first appearance of this font in print.

Andrew Steeves, publisher of Gaspereau Press (and designer of the North American issues of Parenthesis) visited Glenn Goluska this spring in Montreal and posted an account of his visit on the Gaspereau Press blog.

Gaspereau Press has again written a brief tribute to Glenn here, alluding to further words & reflection in the future. Coach House Press has also paid their respects with this post.
 
Having won numerous awards himself over the years, Glenn was gracious enough to share his expertise not once but twice, acting as a judge in our annual book design competition. He came to Vancouver for the 2005 and 2006 Alcuin Awards, judged in the spring of 2006 and 2007 respectively. Here is the photoset from his return trip to Vancouver, judging alongside Alan Brownoff and Jan Elsted in March of 2007. And from the 2006 Alcuin Awards catalog, I'll conclude this post with Glenn's bio in English and French. He shall be missed, but not forgotten. 

Glenn Goluska is a book designer, typographer, and sometime letterpress printer with no formal design training but a lifelong love of type. In Toronto he gained an invaluable education working at the Coach House Press, designed and printed limited editions for his private press as well as for clients such as Margaret Atwood and the Writers Union of Canada, and taught typography at York University. Work led to a year of commuting and finally a move to Montreal, where for ten years he designed exhibition catalogues and posters for the Canadian Centre for Architecture. His design work has won numerous awards in Canada and the US. He now works as a freelance designer and is slowly attempting to get away from the Macintosh and back to letterpress now and again. He lives in Montreal with Pica the one-eyed cat and canoes on the Lachine Canal.

Glenn Goluska n’a pas fait d’études en design, mais, depuis toujours, il aime les caractères typographiques, ce qui l’a amené à exercer les métiers de concepteur graphique de livres, de typographe et quelquefois d’imprimeur en typographie. À Toronto, il a acquis une formation inestimable en travaillant à Coach House Press; il a conçu et imprimé des éditions à tirage limité pour son imprimerie particulière, de même que pour des clients comme Margaret Atwood et The Writers Union of Canada; il a enseigné la typographie à l’Université York. En raison du travail, il a passé un an à faire la navette entre Toronto et Montréal, où il a fini par s’établir et où, pendant dix ans, il a assuré la conception graphique de catalogues et d’affiches d’exposition pour le Centre canadien d’architecture. Ses travaux de conception graphique lui ont valu de nombreux prix, au Canada aussi bien qu’aux États-Unis. Aujourd’hui pigiste, il cherche tout doucement à s’éloigner de son ordinateur pour se remettre à la typographie, de temps à autre. Il vit à Montréal avec Pica, une chatte borgne et fait du canot sur le canal de Lachine.

Judging the 2006 Alcuin Book Design Awards in March of 2007

Alan Brownoff, Glenn Goluska, and Jan Elsted. Photograph by Jason Vanderhill

John Gall to speak at our Vancouver Awards Presentation

We're pleased to announce that our speaker at this year's Vancouver awards presentation for the 29th annual Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada will be John Gall, Art Director at Vintage Books (New York), a publishing imprint originally founded in 1954 by Alfred A. Knopf.

The event will be hosted by, and take place at, the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, as previously announced. (Note the date for this event has changed from Thursday, October 13 to Wednesday, October 12, 2011).

The award-winning books from the design competition will be available for viewing before and after the evening's events.

We have posted this event on our new Facebook Page, and we will continue to post events to this group in the future, as well as maintaining the Google Calendar on our website.

Speaking of Facebook, while we don't wish to pander for attention, we are pleased to announce we have secured the URL http://www.facebook.com/alcuinsociety so please feel free to like our page if you feel so inclined! : )

Here's a quick little video introduction to John Gall, via this Cover Story clip from B&NStudio:

John Gall's 5 Rules of Book Cover Design:

The humility of details - An essay by Shelley Gruendler

We'd like to extend a warm welcome the newest board member of the Alcuin Society, Shelley Gruendler, who was officially added to our board's Program Committee at our recent Annual General Meeting.

As the founding director of Type Camp, Shelley brings a wealth of typographic knowledge and enthusiasm to our midst, holding a PhD and an MA in The History and Theory of Typography and Graphic Communication from the University of Reading, England and a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Graphic Design from North Carolina State University, USA.

We are very much looking forward to our future collaborations. In fact, she has already made a significant contribution, being one of the judges in our book design competition earlier this year. Following this, she wrote an essay in the awards catalogue that recently went out to our members.

The cover of the Alcuin Awards Catalogue
designed by Alcuin member Markus Fahrner

We've posted the entire PDF of our latest catalogue here, but we thought it would be worthwhile to republish the essay here on our blog. Below is the full text of the essay, or click here for a printable PDF. Thanks again, Shelley!

The humility of details

While judging this year's Alcuin Awards for Excellence in Book Design, I was fortunate to be part of a team that truly loved books and the process of making them. It was pure bliss. We all had ardent opinions formed by years of experience in the publishing world. We came from different places and had different industry involvement, but what we had in common was that we noticed the details. Sometimes we noticed different minutiae, sometimes we noticed the same ones, but it was always the 'little' things that determined if something was eliminated immediately or was placed high in the final rounds of judging. And it was these details that sparked the most conversations.

Years ago, as a junior book designer at a University Press, I quickly learned that the little things in book design and production mattered. A lovely endpaper, a well-designed copyright page, or a particularly clever approach to a complex table of contents became the challenge in the design process. They were a manner of creating enjoyment in the most banal of manuscripts, even though practically nobody, including the author, would ever notice them.

In the 1951 publication Books for our Time, the catalogue that accompanied the exhibition of the same name, John Begg referred to a book as 'a three-dimensional container for ideas. . . . [and with] it the desire to communicate has been given enduring form'.¹ If books are the packages for information, and book design is the creation of that form, then as much as I appreciate the design of and the designing of that package, I would like for book design to be thought of as something more.

Perhaps a book is the sum of the parts and not the whole? Or could it be the true sum of the details and not the parts? If so, then it becomes, as Robin Kinross so eloquently put it, 'where the dear god lives'.²

Most of Latin-alphabet [publishing] humanity still does not know what an fi ligature is and why it might be good to have this little thing in text. This despite the fact that in taking care to search and replace ligatures there is only increased expenditure of time in production and no measurable gain for the reader. But the dot of an i is where the dear god is to be found.³

Although he wrote this in 1994, nearly twenty years ago as the graphic design world emerged bruised and bloodied from the post-modernist/deconstructivist era, it is still surprisingly applicable in the present.

I believe that training in book design is crucial for today's graphic designer, not because they should be typographers or book designers but because they must understand the ultimate in design for usability while truly sweating the details. The goblet that we design must be worthy to hold the vintage of the author's thoughts. Perhaps typography today is as much about patience with the process as much as it is about the details themselves. Kinross describes the ignorance of the unnoticeable:

The realm of detail remains stubbornly out of reach of the theorizing and polemic that has surrounded recent typography.… Such details are too small, too mundane, too material, too much just a matter of keyboard layouts and pixels.⁴

He concludes that 'there is still [detailed] work for a typographer to do. It is modest work, but essential'.⁵ Nearly sixty years previous, typographic doyenne Beatrice Warde also invoked the exalted goal of humility when she declared that well-designed typographic applications '[serve] a purpose which is distinctly humble' and that 'no line of type can be as beautiful, visually, as can be the thought it conveys. Indeed one may say that successful [typography] is invisible'⁶.

Not for [average designers] are long breaths held over serif and kern, they will not appreciate your splitting of hair spaces. Nobody (save the other craftsmen) will appreciate half your skill.⁷

It would certainly be a stretch to state that the junior designer of today is humble (and I feel quite comfortable stating this as I was once the epitome of the insolent rookie). But with hindsight, I now feel that the swagger that surrounds so many novices could be beneficial and not a burden in achieving our usability aims for the printed or digital book. We need that same swagger, that chutzpah, to attempt perfection in details and to aim for the supreme solution to the book design need at hand. Without that drive for detail, that drive for unacknowledged perfection, I doubt that we could ever expect to design a book, much less win an Alcuin Award.

Footnotes:

¹ John Begg. 'Tradition in motion'. Marshall Lee, Ed. Books for our time. New York: Oxford University Press, 1951. 29.
² Robin Kinross. 'Where the dear god lives'. Looking Closer 2. M. Bierut, W. Drenttel, S. Heller, DK Holland, Eds. New York: Allworth Press, 1997. 92. (Originally published in the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design. Vol. 12, No. 1. 1994.)
³ Kinross. 92.
⁴ Kinross. 93. However, with the burgeoning interest in type design, one can hope that this is no longer the case.
⁵ Kinross. 93.
⁶ Beatrice Warde. 'Printing standards are improving: some reasons for the sudden advance made by British typography of books and advertisements'. The British and Colonial Printer and Stationer. 6 December 1928. 128.
⁷ Beatrice Warde. 'The Crystal Goblet or Printing Should Be Invisible'. The Crystal Goblet: Sixteen Essays on Typography. London: The Sylvan Press, 1955. 17.

Canada's National Book Collecting Contest; the Prize Winners

It's official! The winners have been chosen, and the awards have been presented!


First prize in Canada’s Second National Book Collecting Contest for young Canadian’s under 30 years of age was presented to Justin Hanisch in Edmonton earlier in May, 2011. Second prize winner Gregory Robert Freeman and third prize winner Kieran Charles Ryan Fox received their reward in a ceremony at SFU Harbour Centre on May 30, 2011.

Below are some photos from both events, along with some examples of books from their own collections that the three winners brought along.



Check back to read the winning essays will be posted on the Bibliographical Society of Canada website in the near future. Below is a press release regarding the winners of this year's contest, and no doubt the next generation of well-read scholars and up-and-coming book collectors! Congratulations, winners!

PRESS RELEASE
May 30, 2011

The Bibliographical Society of Canada (BSC) the W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation (DLF) and the Alcuin Society are pleased to announce the winners of the Canada’s Second National Book Collecting Contest for young Canadian’s under 30 years of age.

FIRST PLACE $1,000
Justin Hanisch  27 (Edmonton, AB)
The History of Fish

SECOND PLACE $500
Gregory Robert Freeman 26 (Surrey, BC)
The Tudors & Stuarts

THIRD PLACE $250
Kieran Charles Ryan Fox 27 (Vancouver, BC)
Superlative Works from the Subcontinent

The W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation, with the Alcuin Society, will be presenting the cash prizes for the two local BC winners at a special event:

Monday 30 May 2011 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Simon Fraser University Vancouver Campus
Room #2520 - 515 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Please contact the following to schedule an interview with the winners: jmeier at deaconfoundation.com  or 604-943-6942

And we're pleased to announce the award will be back next year! Announcing...

The Third National Book-Collecting Contest 2011-12

ABE Books, one of the largest databanks of used books on the planet, has joined us as the main sponsor for the 2011-12 contest. The National Post and CBC Books have also joined us as media sponsors and Hemlock Printers will be printing our posters.

The Third National Book-Collecting Contest will be launched on Monday 30 May 2011 during the Bibliographical Society of Canada's AGM at the University of New Brunswick.

www.bsc-sbc.ca/en/bschome.html
www.deaconfoundation.com
www.alcuinsociety.com

More information, including posters and official rules will be made available soon.

Canada’s Second National Book Collecting Contest Prizes Awarded

On Monday, May 30, 2011, at 7pm, a special awards presentation for two of the winners of Canada’s Second National Book Collecting Contest for young Canadians under 30 years of age will take place at SFU Harbour Centre.

Winners of the contest will be announced at two venues on the 30 May 2011. The Bibliographical Society of Canada (BSC) will announce the winners at their AGM at the University of New Brunswick. The W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation, with the Alcuin Society, will be presenting the cash prizes for the two local BC winners at a special event:

Monday 30 May 2011 @ 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Simon Fraser University Vancouver Campus
Room #2520 – 515 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Everyone is invited to attend to celebrate the winning collectors; the second place winner may also be bringing a few items from his collection.

To schedule an interview with the winners, contact: info@deaconfoundation.com or 604-943-6942

See also: http://deaconfoundation.com/...
Alcuin Award Homepage http://alcuinsociety.com/awards/...
Alcuin Call for Entries post: http://blog.alcuinsociety.com/...
Winners of the Inaugural year of the Award: http://blog.alcuinsociety.com/...

Big thanks to Booklyn!

We'd like to once again officially extend our appreciation once again to Booklyn Artists Alliance for visiting us. Our show and tell event was a resounding success, with attendance reaching 43 people! It was great to hear Felice give her first person tales of Booklyn, and see such a diverse set of artist books from contributors around the world. Below are a few photos selected from the photoset of the evening. Once again, a big thank you for ChalkX for providing the community space for the event!

Booklyn show and tell

Felice presenting the books

Slapdown, the Book

Slapdown, the Book, has definite hands-on appeal! The book concept and drawings are by Damara Kaminecki, text by Jeremy Schmall. Production design by Mark Wagner and Sara Parkel with Amy Mees, printed and bound by Sara Parkel and Cat Glennon with Jamie Munkatchy.
More about the book, which is produced in an edition of 50, from the Booklyn website.

Thanks also to my colleague Rachael Ashe, who also blogged about the event here. Her recent fairy tale series of altered books is a delight!

For further reading; virtual exhibition Artists' Books: Bound in Art featuring a showcase of work artists from across Canada, from the Library of Canada Archives.

Letterpress by Naomie Ross

Just had to post this lil video here as well, seen via Twitter. It's a lovely little 1 minute 33 second instructional video of the letterpress way.


Letterpress from Naomie Ross on Vimeo.

Glenn Goluska 2011 recipient of the Robert R Reid Award

The Alcuin Society is pleased to announce this year's winner of the Robert R. Reid award for lifetime achievement in the book arts goes to GLENN GOLUSKA, typographer, letterpress printer and book designer, of Imprimerie Dromedaire, Montreal, Quebec.

Glenn Goluska, Judging the 2006 Alcuin Book Design Awards,
photographed March 31, 2007 by jmv.

Mr. Goluska’s early career in Toronto designing literary books at Coach House Press was followed by a move to Montreal, where, among other things, he designed numerous books and posters for the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and book jackets for McGill-Queens Press. He has been influential in mentoring many young Canadian designers. Mr. Goluska has been a judge in the Society’s annual book design competition, The Alcuin Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada, and his internationally-recognized book designs have won awards from them as well.

The Robert R. Reid Award is given on an occasional basis to recognize lifetime achievement or extraordinary contributions to the Book Arts in Canada. The previous three awards were given to Robert R. Reid, book designer (2008), Frank Newfeld, graphic artist, book designer and publisher (2009), and Jim Rimmer, typographer, type designer and book designer (2010).

Congratulations, Glenn!

The official press release is available here as a PDF.

Also notable is this post by Gaspereau Press last month, after a trip to Glenn's studio, featuring photos from the trip and some samples of his work.

Winners of the Robert R. Reid award receive the bronze medallion shown below, designed by Robert Chaplin, and mentioned here previously.

photo credit: Peter Lattimer (via Robert Chaplin blog)

An Evening with Booklyn in Strathcona

We're excited to announce a free public event, in partnership with Chalk Xchange community space, fast approaching in less than 2 weeks. The Alcuin Society and the Booklyn artists alliance first crossed paths at the Codex Bookfair in Berkeley earlier this year, and we were impressed with what we saw. We look forward to meeting Felice Tebbe as she brings a sampling of work from the East Coast to the West Coast. The event will be held in the heart of Strathcona, Vancouver, British Columbia. Below is the official description of the event; also available as a PDF flyer.

 
Friday, May 13, 2011
Doors 7:00 pm
Presentation 7:30 pm – 9 pm
Hosted by: Chalk Xchange
593 E. Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC V6A 1Z8

The Alcuin Society is pleased to present a book arts show & tell evening with Felice Tebbe from Brooklyn, New York. The evening will feature an intimate look at a selection of artists books from over 100 artists, from the arts organization appropriately known as "Booklyn". The presentation is generously hosted by Chalk Xchange (@chalkxchange on Twitter) in their Strathcona community space, located at 593 E. Georgia Street in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Founded in 1999, Booklyn (@BooklynArt on Twitter; also on Facebook) is an artist-run, nonprofit organization headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, whose mission is to promote artist books as an art form and educational resource; to provide educational institutions and the public with programming involving contemporary artist books; and to assist artists in exhibiting, distributing, and publishing innovative bookwork.

Felice Tebbe is a poet, printmaker, painter, bookmaker who had worked in book design for the AAUP for 12 years before joining BOOKLYN in sales in 2007. She holds a BFA in Graphics from UW Madison & an MFA in Printmaking & a graduate certificate at the Center for the Book both from the University of Iowa. A native of the NY tri-state area, she was one of the first BOOKLYN artists. One of her favorite things in the world is showing people things they love to see.

The event is free, and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided by the Alcuin Society.

For further information contact info@alcuinsociety.com

The Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild Workshops

The BC Islands chapter of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG BC) is hosting 2 upcoming workshops in Victoria this summer.

Leading the two workshops are Mary K. McIntyre, a Toronto-based metalsmith, and Don Taylor, a bookbinder and restorer who works and teaches in Toronto.

The first workshop is Metal Techniques for Book Artists with instructors Mary K. McIntyre with Don Taylor, to be held August 2-3, 2011, at Island Blue Art Store, 905 Fort Street, Victoria, BC. The workshop fee is $280 ($224 for members of Canadian Bookbinders & Book Artists Guild – CBBAG).

The second workshop is Intermediate Bookbinding with instructor Don Taylor, to be held August 4-7, 2011, also at Island Blue Art Store, 905 Fort Street, Victoria, BC. The workshop fee is $459.20 ($392.00 for members of Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild – CBBAG).


We're told that registration for the two events is due at the end of the month of May at the very latest, but prompt registration is encouraged. For details, and for more workshops across the country, visit the CBBAG website.

Canadian books recognized at 2011 Leipzig competition

Frankfurt, Germany – The Stiftung Buchkunst, based in Frankfurt, Germany, curators of the international exhibition "BEST BOOK DESIGN FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD" at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fairs, selected the 2010 award-winners (for books published in 2009) in an international competition on February 4-5, 2011. The awards were presented at the Leipzig Book Fair in March, 2011.

The Stiftung has just released their short list of competitors for the awards, as well as their list of winners. Of 596 books submitted by 32 countries, 55 titles were shortlisted and 14 prizes were selected; two Canadian designers were honoured to have their books among the shortlisted titles. The Alcuin Society would again like to congratulate the designers and publishers of these books:

Jason Dewinetz, designer (Vernon, BC): This (and That was That) by JonArno Lawson. (Greenboathouse Books) 

Judith Poirier, designer (Montreal, QC): Dialogue by Judith Poirier. (Judith Poirier)

The 30 Canadian books on exhibit, which were participants in the international competition, were submitted by The Alcuin Society to the Stiftung. These books were the winners of the 2009 Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada, held in April 2010. The collection has been donated to the German Book and Type Museum in Leipzig, where it will be available for consultation and exhibitions. The 37 winners of this year's Alcuin Society competition will be forwarded to the Stiftung later this Spring.

The complete short list of competitors and a list of winners have been posted on our site, and are also available at http://www.stiftung-buchkunst.de/

A Tour of the Alcuin Awards Archives

With the announcement of the Alcuin Award winners for 2010 comes the challenge of getting the word out to the winners and the world at large. This starts with a large volume of phone calls on behalf of our awards ambassador, Leah Gordon, who also follows up with a press release that is emailed and posted to our website.

At this point, publishers, designers, and book stores are quick to highlight the awards to their customers, clients, and associates. Winners of the limited editions category have a particular quandary, as the award could come after all copies of the edition have already sold out. This was the case with this year's first prize winner, as The Play of Pericles by Barbarian Press promptly sold out before they even received their accolade.

Once the awards have been announced, the awards catalogue team kicks into high gear. Judges comments are transcribed, photographs are taken of each book, the design and layout of the catalogue takes place, and the entire publication is translated into French. The Alcuin Society has published all the winners in a separate printed awards publication since 1996. For the past two years, the catalog has run in full colour, thanks to the generosity of Alcuin Patron Yosef Wosk. These catalogues are a valuable resource for designers, publishers, collectors, and the general public alike.

The Alcuin Society book design competition was first held in 1981. Prior to the publication of a separate awards catalogue in 1996, the results were reported in Amphora. We have also had the award winners listed on our website dating back to 1996, but recently I dug deeper into the archives in order to feature electronic copies of the catalogues from the past. We have a very limited number of printed copies remaining for sale, but once they sell out, PDFs of the catalogues will remain an accessible resource.

I also overhauled the back catalogue of the award webpages themselves, expanding the LibraryThing widgets to include a widget for every single category for the years 2006-2008. The webpage for the year 2005 is a bit of an exception, as it already featured expanded images and text from the catalogue. Last year, for 2009, I included URL hyperlinks to the website closest to the publisher of the book, and this year for 2010, Alcuin member Phyllis Reeve volunteered to do the same (thanks, Phyllis!). In most cases, the links are still functional, though they may break in due time.

Currently, we have posted the following PDF catalogues to our website: 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, and 2009, as well as text only PDFs from the years 2005 and 2006.

The year 2004 was the first year that a bilingual catalogue was published, and 2008 was the first year the catalogue was produced in full colour. While we await the production of the latest catalogue for the winning books from 2010, take a moment to look back on the catalogues from the past.

Announcing the 2010 Award Winners

We're pleased to announce the 37 best-looking books of 2010, winners of our annual Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. Once again, we acknowledge our appreciation to this year's judges, Alan Brownoff, Dr. Shelley Gruendler, and CS Richardson for selecting 37 winning titles from 217 entries, from 9 provinces and 96 publishers. The photos in the slideshow above were taken by Jason Vanderhill on Saturday, March 26th, as the books were being judged. The comprehensive list of winners has been posted on our website, available in HTML and PDF format. Congratulations to all the winners!

Beauty inside and out

As a prelude to our own announcement of our book design awards, it is worth mentioning a couple items seen via Twitter today.

First is the commissioned Penguin Threads Deluxe Classics in embroidery by Jillian Tamaki from Brooklyn, NYC.

And second is the Altered Book: Little Red Riding Hood by Vancouver artist Rachael Ashe.

Both of these works of art deserve top marks for their innovative integration of art and book! Congratulations, Jillian & Rachael!

Our thoughts for Japan

Sent today to our contact at the Canadian Embassy Library in Tokyo: "On behalf of The Alcuin Society, I would like to express the shock that we all felt, and feel, as we hear about the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We want to express our sympathy to, and concern for, all of you; and we hope that all of you, and your families and friends, are -- and stay -- safe and well. Our thoughts are with you."

Best Book Design in the World at the Leipzig Book Fair

 

For those who may happen to be in Leipzig later this month, here's your invitation to see the BEST BOOK DESIGN FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.

COME AND CELEBRATE WITH US - FOR THE 20TH TIME!

THE STIFTUNG BUCHKUNST

AT THE LEIPZIG BOOK FAIR 

MARCH 17 TO 20, 2011

HALL 3 STAND G 600

+49. (0) 1577.3308162

Stiftung Buchkunst requests the pleasure of your company at a reception on March 18, 2010, at 4pm. We celebrate the awards at our stand G 600 in Hall 3 at the Leipzig Book Fair.

UPDATE: This just in from the Stiftung Buchkunst. Two Limited Edition Canadian books we submitted have been shortlisted in the exhibit. They are:

Judith Poirier, designer, author and publisher, Dialogue
Jason Dewinetz, designer, publisher (Greenboathouse Press), This (and That was That), by JonArno Lawson.

For the purists, here's the complete invitation text in German: 

SCHÖNSTE BÜCHER AUS ALLER WELT 2011
Eine internationale Ausstellung der Stiftung Buchkunst in Kooperation mit der Stadt Leipzig. Aus 32 Ländern zeigen wir Bücher, die bereits in ihren nationalen Wettbewerben, vergleichbar mit »Die schönsten deutschen Bücher«, ausgezeichnet wurden und am internationalen Wettbewerb »Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt 2011« teilnahmen.

PREISVERLEIHUNG,
FREITAG, 18. MÄRZ 2011, 16 UHR
Begrüßung: Oliver Zille, Direktor der Leipziger Buchmesse
Einführung: Thedel v. Wallmoden, Vorstandsvorsitzender Stiftung Buchkunst
Vorstellung des Wettbewerbs »Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt« Uta Schneider, Geschäftsführerin der Stiftung Buchkunst Goldene Letter, Medaillen und Urkunden: Verleihung durch Michael Faber, Bürgermeister und Beigeordneter für Kultur der Stadt Leipzig. Anschließend findet ein kleiner Empfang statt. Druckfrisch bieten wir zur Leipziger Buchmesse den Katalog »Die schönsten deutschen Bücher 2010« an.

Träger der Stiftung Buchkunst sind der Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V., die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, die Städte Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig. Außerdem bedanken wir uns für weitere Unterstützung bei dem Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, dem Hessischen Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, dem Freundeskreis der Stiftung Buchkunst e.V. sowie der Leipziger Buchmesse. Kennen Sie schon den Freundeskreis der Stiftung Buchkunst e.V.? Besuchen Sie uns unter www.stiftung-buchkunst.de > Freunde.

Robert Chaplin asks "What's in a Book" and presents the Robert Reid Medal

Robert Chaplin recently posed the question "What's in a Book" as a prelude to the Alcuin Society's newly minted Robert Reid Medal, which he designed. It's marvelous. Below is is a reprint of his post, republished here with his permission:

What’s in a Book ? - isbn 978-1-894897-25-9

What’s in a book ? and anyways, why are books so magical ? I've some thoughts on the matter and may at this point share them.

A book is a containment system for knowledge. Whether it be a clay tablet, scroll, codex or electronic application; a book is a compartmental unit of specific information. The information contained may be of any level of importance, everything and anything; understanding modern plumbing, instructions for burning witches, recipes for delicious cakes and pies, poetry, history, nonfiction, and fairy tales. Irregardless of relevance, form or content, engaging with a book is an act of revelation. Open up the covers, and we are in, experiencing the word, entertained, and enlightened.

This wise stuff aside, the book in codex form has another, more inappropriate function. It can be used to conceal an object. This old chestnut... take a big book in hard covers, one seldom opened, commonly the Bible. Open the book and cut holes in the pages , until you have created enough usable space, to hide something important. Place your secret object in the book, close the covers, and place the book on a bookshelf. Excellent! you have successfully hidden the goods in a manner no one will ever suspect.

Now that I've given you the background information, this is what you are looking at. A book, a medal, my latest publication: The Robert Reid Medal, to be precise. The medal was commissioned by the Alcuin Society and named after Robert Reid, a pioneer in Canadian book design. Presented nationally, the Robert Reid Medal celebrates lifetime achievement in book creation. The design was carved by my hand then cast in bronze at the studio of my colleague Jess Sarber. After the medals were cast, each one was hand finished by me. This work was completed in an edition of 25 with 5 artists proofs.

Regarding the revelatory and concealing power of books, it seemed most fitting, to encase each medal in this manner. Within this context the medal becomes a dimensional illustration, and since I've taken to publication as an act of contemporary art, it would be reasonable to assign an ISBN to this project. The book itself consists of an essay written by Yosef Wosk, regarding the value of a life spent in creation. The typography was designed electronically, burned into polymer plates, then printed and bound at Black Stone Press. A purpose built and published work to simultaneously protect and reveal a lifetime of excellence.

photo credit: Peter Lattimer

(via Robert Chaplin blog)

Old Books in New Libraries: Treasures of UVic Libraries

UVic Libraries has a fascinating three-part lecture series titled "Old Books in New Libraries: Treasures of UVic Libraries".

Dr. Helene Cazes will dedicate a three-part lecture series to UVic Libraries "very special collections, and especially the “Seghers Collection" – an unique 7,500 volume library named after Bishop Charles John Seghers (1839-1886). Seghers, the second Catholic bishop of Victoria, arrived on Vancouver Island in 1864 and was murdered in Alaska in 1886. The “Seghers Collection” was placed on permanent loan within the Special Collections Department of the McPherson Library in 1976.

Audio from first lecture, which was held in January, has been posted on the UVic website. The second lecture in the series is scheduled for tomorrow: Monday, February 7, 2011.

All lectures are from 1:30 – 2:30 pm and take place in the Special Collections classroom, A003, lower level McPherson Library, at the University of Victoria.

January 17, 2011
This overview to the unique “Seghers Collection” will give an idea of the complexity and depth of a collection that gathers the classics of ecclesiastical and philological training and Renaissance and Early Modern books and also contains the accumulated donations of more than 150 years from the Catholic community on Vancouver Island.

http://dspace.library.uvic.ca:8080/handle/1828/3202

Audio from subsequent lectures is anticipated to follow...

February 7, 2011
Special Collections, Special Books, and Special Readers
This lecture gives a “guided tour” of a selection of mini-collections within Special Collections: history of medicine, Bibles, discovery of the Americas and Amer-Indian religions, and Aldine editions of modern dictionaries.

March 28, 2011
Plantiniana: Humanist Grafts in Special Collections
Christopher Plantin (1520-1589) could be presented as the epitome of Renaissance humanist printers. He founded a dynasty of learned editors and publishers. An avid book collector, Charles Seghers secured several publications from the Plantin’s Presses, now kept in Special Collections, McPherson Library.

Young Book Collectors Reminder: March 7th Contest Application Deadline

(image from danswenson on flickr, via BoingBoing)

Just a reminder to all young and aspiring book collectors, the deadline for the Second National Book Collecting Contest for young Canadians is fast approaching! The contest is presented by the W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation, in partnership with the Bibliographical Society of Canada (BSC) and the Alcuin Society.

Do you know a Canadian reader under 30 years of age with a zest for book collecting?

Send them to this URL pronto!

http://deaconfoundation.com/book-contest-2/
 
Deadline: March 7, 2011

(Contest Rules French)
(Contest Rules English)

As mentioned previously:


What it takes to win a Book Collecting Contest
Canada’s Second National Book Collecting Contest, 2010/2011