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The American Bookbinders Museum
The American Bookbinders Museum explores and celebrates the craft, culture, and tools of bookbinding.
The American Bookbinders Museum is unveiling The Banned Book Jail, a permanent art installation highlighting censorship in the form of book banning in the United States. We invite you to learn why all of these books were banned with us every day leading up to the artwork's official unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremony on World Book Day, April 23rd, at 12:30 pm here at the American Bookbinders Museum. ![]()
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The Giver by Lois Lowry is a young adult dystopian novel published in 1993 depicting a futuristic society that is devoid of all hunger, pain, and hardship, but also without color or deep relationships. The main character, eleven-year-old Jonas, is assigned to become the one person to hold all the traumatizing and beautiful memories that make up life before the ‘Sameness’. Eventually, Jonas understands that feeling all emotions, both good and bad, make for a more meaningful life. He escapes their dull world and discovers a place outside of their society, dispersing all of his newfound memories to his community in the process.![]()
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Lois Lowry received a Newbery Medal for her novel and it is considered a modern classic. However, the book has been frequently challenged since its publishing for its ‘adult themes’ like suicide, sexuality, and euthanasia. In 2022, The Giver was officially banned from libraries in the Frisco Independent School District in Texas. ![]()
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#Bookbindersmuseum #ABM #TheGiver #LoisLowry #Bannedbooks #ImWithTheBanned #PublicArt #ReadBannedBooks #Censorship
We are celebrating our first ten years at 355 Clementina street in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena SOMA district. Join us for Chapter 10, a free exhibition looking back at our ten years of special exhibits exploring the story of the book. Open April 12th - May 10th. ![]()
Bound for Beauty was the American Bookbinders Museum’s first virtual exhibition. This exhibit highlighted the stunning books in the Kathleen V. Roberts Collection of Decorated Publishers’ Bindings. To learn more about the process, artwork, and materials used in these editions, please visit our website to see the full exhibition virtually.![]()
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#Chapter10 #bookbinding #booklover #SanFrancisco #FREESF #Books #10Years #onlythebeginning
The American Bookbinders recently installed The Banned Book Jail, a permanent art installation highlighting censorship in the form of book banning in the United States. Join us every day to learn why each of these books was banned. We would love for you to join us in person on April 23rd at 12:30pm for the artwork's official unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremony. ![]()
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Frankenstein, or A Modern Prometheus, is considered by many scholars to be the first horror novel. The story follows Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his “monster”, a reanimated person made of body parts Dr.Frankenstein collected. The story’s core conflict follows Victor as he is unable to understand and be held accountable for his actions. By the end of the book, the viewer is left to question who is really the monster, Dr.Frankenstein or his creation.![]()
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The book was banned in South Africa in 1955, 139 years after its original publication, calling it "indecent, objectionable or obscene." If a South African was found in possession of the novel they could be fined $2800 (equivalent to $33,190 today), or five years in prison. Scholars point to the novel's true reason for censorship being the socio-political subtext of the book; a criticism of a society that upholds itself on physical aesthetics and exclusion to stay in power. This is a threat to a race-based regime. ![]()
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#Bookbindersmuseum #ABM #Frankenstein #Bannedbooks #ImWithTheBanned #PublicArt #ReadBannedBooks #Censorship #MaryShelley
If you are following the American Bookbinders Museum, you are familiar with the term ‘signature’: a small number of pages that are folded and sewn together to form a text block. But, did you know that other English-speaking countries have different words for this piece of important bookbinding terminology? In England for example, bookbinders sometimes refer to the signature as a ‘gathering’, which points to the process of arranging signatures rather than the signatures themselves. They are also sometimes called ‘sections’ in England, whereas Australians prefer the term ‘print signature’. This phenomenon likely reflects the historical development of bookbinding techniques, or perhaps just different regional preferences.![]()
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All of these terms began as the word Quire. Let us know in the comments if you know or use other terms! ![]()
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#FridayFact #bookbinding #ABM
The American Bookbinders recently installed The Banned Book Jail, a permanent art installation highlighting censorship in the form of book banning in the United States. Join us every day to learn why each of these books was banned. We would love for you to join us in person on April 23rd at 12:30pm for the artwork's official unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremony. ![]()
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George Orwell’s 1984 takes place in a dystopian totalitarian society in which the government has the ability to control every aspect of citizen's lives through constant surveillance. The book was banned in the Soviet Union upon its publication in 1949 but was lifted in 1988. Today in the United States the book finds itself constantly challenged. Recently the book was banned from Florida schools for containing “explicit material”. On March 16th an Iowa judge blocked a bill that would ban this book, among others, from schools citing how the removal of these books would be unconstitutional. ![]()
#Bookbindersmuseum #ABM #1984 #Bannedbooks #ImWithTheBanned #PublicArt #ReadBannedBooks #Censorship![]()
The American Bookbinders recently installed The Banned Book Jail, a permanent art installation highlighting censorship in the form of book banning in the United States. Join us every day to learn why each of these books was banned. We would love for you to join us in person on April 23rd at 12:30pm for the artwork's official unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremony. as banned from Florida schools for containing “explicit material”. On March 16th an Iowa judge blocked a bill thatwould ban this book, among others, from schools citing how the removal of these books would be unconstitutional.