Report of the 2004 Guild of Book Worker's Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding Conference

Providence, RI
November 11 - 14, 2004

Reported by Eric Alstrom, Collections Conservator

Since this organization and conference are probably new to most of you, and definitely outside the realm of traditional library conferences, I thought I would provide a little background before I begin my report on the conference itself.

The Guild of Book Workers (GBW) is a national organization for those involved in the book arts ­ bookbinding, letterpress printing, calligraphy, papermaking, paper marbling, etc. The majority of members are bookbinders and a great majority of these are also conservators of one sort or another. Many are in private practice or run their own shop. But many of the conservators at universities and other cultural institutions belong to this organization. (The other organization we belong to is the AIC ­ the American Institute for Conservation, which I'm sure you will hear me talk about at some point in the future.) Each year the GBW sponsors the Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding, otherwise known as Standards. This conference brings together about one-fifth of the GBW membership (approximately 175 attendees and it's always sold out) to listen to fellow members and other prestigious book workers from around the world. Their presentations include hand-ons demonstrations and lectures of new or historical techniques. Other conference activities include a poster session, a vendor's room (many of the tools and supplies binders and conservators use are very specialized with only a handful of companies around the world selling them), and of course time to meet old friends, make new ones and network with colleagues.

This year, the conference was at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. The Biltmore is a very ornate older hotel with little nooks and crannies everywhere. Heating the space did not seem to be hotel's strong suit, so some sessions were freezing while the session in the next room was uncomfortably hot. And getting the season's first snowfall of six inches didn't help matters any, although it made picturesque Providence even more so.

I saw five presentations which ranged from the theoretically historical to the day-to-day practical. First I saw a demonstration of a Swedish trade binding, a method of binding which would have been used by publishers to bind books for the masses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The focus was on the variety of endsheets the Swedish binders used, which can seem rather dry to the lay person, but is as fascinating to binders as hydrogen bonding is to the chemist. In another presentation, a conservator from the University of Uppsula (in Sweden) showed how 12th through 14th century Swedish religious manuscripts were bound, using a "limp vellum binding." (If you want to know more about these, please let me know ­ I have pictures which are much easier to show than describing them in words.) Besides the fascinating presentations and historical methods he presented, I was pleasantly surprised to find out one of his conservation colleagues was named Per Alstrom ­ he must be a relative many generations removed. This concluded the "Swedish section" of the conference, which was unusal in that most Standards don't have a theme, either historically or geographically.

The other presentations included a session on "edge gilding," or laying down gold or other colors to the edges of a textblock of a book. You don't find this very often on modern hardcovers, but there are many examples in Special Collections. This is a very difficult procedure to master, with such variables as heat, humidity and wind speed all affecting how well the glair (adhesive) and gold leaf (only 1/200,000 to 1/250,000 inch thick!) will work. Of course this was in the room which was over hot and had a heating duct blowing hot hair directly on where the presenter was trying to work. In a more practical vein, there was a presentation on the conservation of vellum, both in bindings and as manuscript pages. Vellum is a very difficult material to both work with and to conserve. It tends to want to curl back into the shape of the animal where it came from when the environmental conditions are too low and if it gets too damp can easily mold. But it was (and still is somewhat) used extensively as both a writing surface and as a material for the covers of bindings. The presenter offered many tips from her long career conserving vellum documents which I will be able to put into effect in the conservation lab. Finally I attended a session on how to best photograph books and bookbindings. This will be useful both personally as well as professionally. I learned many tips on how to best photograph my own fine bindings and will be able to apply that to taking documentation photographs of conservation treatments for rare and valuable books.

Besides the presentation sessions, there was a small poster session with GBW members offering various tips, tricks and innovations for binding and conservation. One table featured bindings from the "Spring[binding] Hath Sprung Bind-a-Rama" exhibit, which featured creative uses of the 19th century ledger, or spring, binding. These heavy-duty bindings were designed for account books and literally spring open to lay completely flat. I have a book in this exhibit, so it was nice to meet and talk to the other exhibitors as well. The exhibit is online an can be seen at http://www.philobiblon.com/springbackbindorama.htm. I am also the Publicity Chair for the GBW, and the Executive Committee held it's annual in-person meeting the day before the conference began. This also gave me part of the day to explore Providence, where I was able to check out the Rhode Island School of Design (they have a school of printing and binding) and the Providence Athenaeum, where the New England Chapter of the GBW was holding an exhibit of its member's bindings.

All-in-all this was an excellent conference with a wide variety of topics covered and it is always nice to be able to chat with fellow binders and conservation colleagues. The subject matter may be a bit strange to those of you in more traditional library positions, but the role of a conference doesn't change, just the subject matter does. If you have any questions or just want to know more about the field of bookbinding, please let me know and I'd be happy to answer your questions. More info about the Guild of Book Workers can be found at their website http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/gbw (for which I am the Web Binder).