The American Bookbinders Museum was thrilled to participate in the Antiquarian Book Fair in Oakland last weekend. We met so many lovely people, and were excited for the opportunity to talk about the museum and bookbinding with such a wide audience.
Our bookbinding tools trivia contest was a hit both online and in person — a real ice breaker for bookbinders and book lovers alike to discuss our mysterious selection of tools. We hope the lively discussion will continue through our opening in June — we could only bring a few small tools to the fair, but there will be many, much larger, pieces of equipment to ponder and discuss in the new museum space!
Mystery object #1 — Paper beating hammer
Mystery object #2 — Screen for sprinkling edges
Mystery object #3 — Band sticks for defining raised cords
Mystery object #4 — Moulds for shaping springback spines, i.e. for ledger books
Mystery object #5 — Alignment gauge for spine labeling
Mystery object #6 — Corner gauge
Mystery object #7 — Round scraper for fore edge scraping in the round
Mystery object(s) #8 — Indexing rolls. Wood for inked index tabs and metal for tooled/gilt.
Mystery object #9 — Aufschabeblech, or tin for fraying cords
Mystery object #10 — Stabbing machine/hole puncher