Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Upcoming Posts and Other Musings

It's summer and things have been rather slow. While we wait for some excellent reviews of The Bindings of Trevor Jones, Tricks of the Trade by Jamie Kamph, and the catalog to Hello Hedi at 23 Sandy Gallery I offer this diversion.








It's summer, and what can be more seasonal than enjoying an excellent fermented beverage, in this case beer, especially when the label is designed by a well known graphic artist whose work some of us have had the honor to bind.


The beer, Bell's Two Hearted Ale, a nice play on the short story be Hemingway... The artist...? Ladislav Hanka, a friend of Jan Sobota and many others. His books Corn, County Survey, Scripta Naturae, and Opus Salvelinus were all bound for the 50 x 25 exhibit held at Southern Methodist University's Bridwell Library. Most recently Hanka published a memorial book, Remembering Jan Bohuslav Sobota, about his friend Jan Sobota that was bound by many of the same binders as in 50 x 25. You can see some of the bindings here. Hanka's archive is housed at Western Michigan University, also home to half of the 50 bindings in 50 x 25 - each binder bound two of the same title, with one going back to the artist...

Fishing is a large part of Hanka's life, often featured in his prints, and beautifully bound. So, open a Bell's Two Hearted Ale (if available in your area), crank up À la Poupée & the Chine-Collé's music, and take a look at this man's etchings.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Bookmaking of a different kind



Hey, we made The New Yorker this week... 

“Vinnie, we gotta talk about what ‘bookmaking’ means.”

From this week's issue of The New Yorker.

You have no idea how many bookies are out there wanting to learn about making books, at least based on my my referring URLs...  This opens possibilities for further workshop venues - metaphor as material anyone?

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Don't mess with your bookie!

Carrying on the theme started by Audra of The Vespiary with Chris Ware's Great Book Trimming Machine...

From Le Petit Parisien June 19, 1910... The story reports that the bookbinder got behind on his payments to his bookie (note fingers already cut off) and did himself in. Whether he did it himself is debatable as the screw for the press bar in the guillotine seems higher up than he could reach, never mind operating the lever/wheel on what seems to be a manual device. Regardless, it is a cautionary tale that one should not betray a bookie.

Addendum: And thanks to David Amstell, here the text translated by Google from the French... A simple malfunction it seems, not a murder/suicide... I think I like Charlene's version better. Besides, what was his head doing clear through on the other side and where is the stuff he thought he was cutting??? The reader's comments ask these questions too...



The image is from the collection of Charlene Matthews of Bindery in Hollywood, California.

Below the original description of the scene of the crime.Click link in caption to get to full sized image.

Le Petit Parisien. Supplément littéraire illustré (Paris)
Source: gallica.bnf.fr