Four Beautiful Chapbooks by Asian American Poets to Read during National Poetry Month

  The chapbook, an abbreviated print format that originated with cheap, mass-produced pamphlets hawked by itinerant salesmen in the sixteenth century, is a staple of the modern-day poetry world. Like their historical predecessors, contemporary chapbooks are slim, portable objects, often affordably printed and produced, and devoted to shorter texts. But

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Samuel Mearne and Restoration Copyright

  Samuel Mearne: Bookbinder and Copyright Enforcer A cursory search for Samuel Mearne (1624-1683) reveals an English Restoration bookbinder and publisher associated with the cottage (or cottage-roof) style of binding, which is characterized by ornate and colorful covers, often with a floral theme.

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S. T. Prideaux on Design

One of the notable individuals featured in our current exhibit, “The Woman Bookbinder,” is Sarah Treverbian Prideaux (1853-1933). Born in London, S.T. Prideaux ended up as one of the most distinguished female bookbinders and binding designers of her time, even though she began at age 35. She was lucky enough to

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Stacking the Deck: A Playing Card Press

For centuries people have employed “presses” of various types to protect and preserve precious possessions. Victorian women pressed flowers given them by admirers. Linen presses and clothes presses, generally now synonymous with cupboards, originally were devices to flatten fine fabrics via a platen and large screw, not unlike printing presses.

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The Cottonian Library Fire

The British Library is, by number of items cataloged, the largest library in the world, and is the national library of the United Kingdom. In 1973, it was established as an entity separate from the British Museum, and the bulk of its founding collections were taken from the museum’s holdings.

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#ColorOurCollections Wrap-Up

#ColorOurCollections has come and gone, but luckily the links to the coloring pages in our original post will remain, so if you feel like coloring, please make use of them. We’re always excited to see your artistic takes on our collection items. Hopefully this project will continue next year –

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A Brief History of Wove Paper

This week we have a guest feature from Marieka Kaye, Conservation Librarian and Book Conservator from the University of Michigan Library.  In this article, she will be telling us about a book she’s recently been working on as a entry into exploring, briefly, the history of wove paper.

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Patron Saints of Bookbinding

Bookbinding is not for the timid of hand or heart. courtesy of Dan Goldberg Risk of stab by needle, loss of fingers by guillotine: these are the few perils that bookbinders face every day in their field of work. There is even one recorded case of death by beating books. courtesy of

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