Booklovers Alert! Our 2012 Annual Book Auction Announced!

Photo from last year's book auction, at the University Golf Club, Vancouver

On Saturday November 10th, 2012, the Alcuin Society will hold an auction of new books submitted to the Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada in March, 2012, and books which won awards in 2011.

This is an excellent opportunity to purchase books considered by Canadian publishers to be the most beautiful that they produced in 2011, at very reasonable prices, in an informal and congenial atmosphere - just in time for Christmas!

Where: University Golf Club, 5185 University Boulevard, Vancouver
When: 11 AM — Saturday, November 10, 2012
Auction: 1 PM scheduled to conclude by 3 PM

For those wishing to join us for the lunch prior to the auction, please RSVP at awards@alcuinsociety.com by November 2nd 8th! (Deadline extended! Still room for 10 more seats for lunch! Contact us by email if you wish to attend!) A charge of $18 per person covers a light lunch.

Note the lunch is optional; anyone can attend the auction, scheduled to start at 1pm.

Payment can be made by cheque, or you can also use our PayPal Donate button online. Simply specify the amount of $18 CDN and indicate "Book Auction" in the Comments field when proceeding at PayPal.

SFU Lecture: The Printing Room @ St. Michael’s College

We've received word from SFU of an upcoming lecture that will surely be of interest to print historians and bibliophiles alike! Jonathan Bengtson will be giving a presentation at SFU Burnaby campus on the the Printing Room at St. Michael’s College. Here is a PDF advertising the event, and below are all the details you need to know. To whet your appetite, I highly recommend that you download the background reading material from archive.org:

The Printing Room: The John M. Kelley Library. University of Toronto: 2009

Please RSVP for the event as requested below. We hope to see you there!

Friday, October 26, 2012
4:30pm to 6:00pm
Room 2020 - Thesis Defence Room
W.A.C. Bennett Library
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC

Jonathan Bengtson has served as University Librarian at the University of Victoria since January 2012. Prior to his appointment at Victoria, he served as director of library and archives at the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, as well as the library director for the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies (PIMS), one of the most important libraries for medievalists in North America.

He trained as a medievalist at Oxford and has been director of academic and special libraries in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Before arriving at the University of Toronto in 2004, Bengtson was head librarian of The Queen’s College, Oxford, and, afterwards, the executive director of the Providence Athenaeum in Providence, Rhode Island.

While at St. Michael’s, Bengtson played a key role in the establishment of the St. Michael’s Print Room. The Room features five hand-presses, including the 1895 Reliance press that is in the foyer of the library; it has binding equipment; an extensive collection of type, including ornaments from the Toronto firm of Cooper and Beatty, woodcuts and wood type; and pedagogical material, including unusual books as well as documents in Braille. The Room has played a critical role in supporting the teaching of book history and material bibliography. Bengtson’s lecture will speak to issues related to the creation of the Print Room and its impact on teaching and learning.


Refreshments following lecture.
Free Admission – limited seating - please reserve a seat by calling 778.782.6704 or emailing library at sfu.ca
For further information contact:
Chuck Eckman, Dean, Library Services
Tel: 778.782.3265

2013 Robert R Reid Award Winner Announced

Last night at the Alcuin Awards in Toronto, it was formally announced that William Rueter, RCA MGDC, fine press printer and founder of the Aliquando Press will be the 2013 recipient of the Robert R. Reid Award for Achievement in the Book Arts in Canada.

William Rueter RCA MGDC is a private printer, hand binder, and printmaker living in Dundas, Ontario. He studied at the City Literary Institute, London, England, and the Ontario College of Art. From 1965 to 1998 he worked as a graphic designer specializing in book design, including employment as Senior Designer at the University of Toronto Press.

He established his private press, The Aliquando Press, in 1963, producing more than 100 books and many broadsides to date. The Press reflects Rueter’s interests in graphic design, typography, calligraphy, music, and a wide variety of poetry and literature. Work of The Aliquando Press won an honorary diploma at the Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt exhibition in Leipzig in 1987 and a bronze medal at the Internationale Buchkunstausstellung 1989.

Work of the Press has been shown throughout North America and in Japan and is included in public and private North American and European collections, including the Toronto, New York, and San Francisco public libraries; the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg; the British Library; and the Museum van het Boek, the Hague.

Rueter has taught graphic design and bookbinding in Canada and graphic design in Barbados and the Philippines. He explores the media of wood engraving and linocut in some of his own books and is challenged by the technique of monoprint. As a printmaker, bookbinder, and graphic designer he has been in solo and group shows in Dundas, Hamilton, and Toronto. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art and is a past nominee for the Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in the Crafts.

Congratulations, William! The award will be presented in the spring of 2013 in Vancouver, BC.