Last week our conservation staff in the bindery had a creative day of making paste papers. It is hard to not be jealous of all the work they get to do on a daily basis, but sometimes we get a chance to participate. With this project we had that opportunity. Who can say finger painting isn’t allowed in the work place??

Benjamin Sands, Metamorphosis, or, A Transformation of Pictures (United States?, 1802). Manuscript copy by “A.A. Sept. 25th, 1802.”

Each of the five panels folds at the top and bottom to create three illustrations. This book form, called “metamorphosis,” was so popular that thirty-nine editions were printed in America before 1820. Other manuscript copies exist, but all copies are unique.

You can see this book in person in our current exhibition, The Living Book: New Perspectives on From and Function on display through January 5th, 2018.

Library Company conservators have gathered a wide assortment of materials highlighting new perspectives on the material culture of the book. This multimedia exhibition will look at the book as an object and a tool for education, reflection, and fun.

Opening TODAY!! 

The Living Book : New Perspectives on Form and Function curated by the Library Company’s conservation department, where the love of the book knows no bounds, but maybe all bindings.                           

You may recall book conservator, Alice Austin, showing off this ca. 1850 handmade tunnel book depicting the Thames Tunnel thoroughfare, posted in September 2015. Since then, Alice has continued her research on tunnel books and will be presenting on the subject at The Living Book Symposium on Thursday, May 18, 2017! 

Catch Alice, Mark Dimunation, Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, and Russell Maret, type designer and private press printer, as they share their unique perspectives on the book. For more info, visit the event page HERE. Hope to see you  there! 

[Handmade tunnel book showing an enclosed thoroughfare] [graphic].
Published  ca. 1850. Description  1 item:  watercolor and pencil;  folded to 9 x 9 cm (3.5 x 3.57 in.) (accordion format)

Learning about book structures helps our catalogers better understand the items in our collections.

Arielle Middleman, Associate Chief of Cataloging & Digital Outreach Librarian, shows off the tunnel book she made during a workshop last month led by Alice Austin, LCP Book Conservator. This tunnel book was made using eight hand-printed panels designed by Arielle. By cutting holes in various shapes and sizes, a view to the back panel was created. Two accordion-fold strips line the sides of the panels, enabling the tunnel book to open and close as a unit.