News

If you have any news or information for this page, please email the website manager

Resheduled DB Lectures
The January 2010 Saturday lectures, which were cancelled due to the bad weather, have been rescheduled for Saturday October 30, 2010.

The Tuesday lecture for November 2, 2010 will now be held on Tuesday November 30, 2010.

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused, but felt that it would have been irresponsible to expect people to travel in such adverse weather conditions.

It is unfortunate that we have had to cancel lectures twice in the last twelve months and we would urge members to inform the secretary of their current e-mail address so that they can be kept informed by the e-bulletin. Alternatively, if you are not on the internet, call Rachel Ward-Sale on 01273 486718 to obtain the latest information.

2009 Bookbinding Competition

Results and prizewinning bindings can be found here.

The exhibition for this year’s competition is being held at the John Rylands University Library in Manchester and will run from Saturday 5th December 2009 to Sunday 31st January 2010.

The John Rylands Library
The University of Manchester
150 Deansgate
Manchester
M3 3EH

DB Lecture Series 2009/10
Dates and speakers have been finalised for the latest series of highly regarded Designer Bookbinders Lectures at The Art Workers Guild, London.

Details can be found here.

DB/SoB Joint Weekend Workshops

Details of the sixth series of these popular workshops can now be found in our TEACHING section.

Scripta Manent Competition
The Estonian Association of Designer Bookbinders is organising their Scripta Manent Bookbinding Competition in 2010 for the fourth time.

Full details - including a registration form - can be seen/downloaded here (PDF)

For more about the Scripta Manent contact sirje.kriisa@scriptamanent.ee

The Bookbinding Competition 2009

Entry details for the DB annual competiton can be found here.

Designer Bookbinders International Bookbinding Competition 2009

Details and prizewinners for the International Competition are now available to view here.

Bookbinding Classes at City Lit, London
Details of the latest series of these popular workshops and courses can be found on our UK COURSES page.

New Courses for 2009 - Shepherds Bookbinders
Shepherds Bookbinders has established a new workshop, a converted barn in the village of Woodborough, near Pewsey in Wiltshire, where they will be running a series of Bookbinding Master Classes throughout this summer.

Members of Designer Bookbinders can receive a 20% discount off published prices for these two day courses. Further information can be obtained from Shepherds by telephoning Alison Strachan on 01672 851979, or visit their website here: www.bookbinding.co.uk/courses.htm

New Fellow & Licentiates
At the Applications meeting 21 February 2009, Derek Hood was elected Fellow and both Hannah Brown and Tatjana Gretschmann to Licentiate of Designer Bookbinders.

Congratulations to all !!

Their details will be added to the members page in due course.

The Bookbinding Competition 2008
The John Rylands University Library, Manchester

Results and prizewinning bindings for the 33rd annual competition exhibition can be found here.

Socialism: A Celebration - a collection of beautiful books
at The House of Lords, London on Wednesday 15 October 2008

A special day for the binders of fifteen works for Lord Tom Sawyer of Darlington. A report and a slideshow of pictures taken at the event can be found here.

'Things of Beauty': The Tregaskis Collections of International Bindings
The John Rylands University Library, Manchester
Historic Reading Room
22 October to 24 December 2008

More details here.

The original catalogue for this exhibition is available in our online shop.
NB: This exhibition runs concurrently with The Bookbinding Competition exhibition to the end of 2008.

Kyffin - A Celebration
DB Fellows and Licentiates Touring Exhibition 2008

Twenty-one Fellows and nine Licentiates have been involved in this ambitious project, binding copies of a commemorative book of essays and memoirs celebrating the distinguished Welsh artist Sir Kyffin Williams, who died in 2006.

More details here

The catalogue for this exhibition is now available to buy at our online shop.

Covered 2008
The fourth Designer Bookbinders exhibition at the Flow Gallery:

More details here.

New Fellow & Licentiates
At the Applications meeting in February Dominic Riley was elected Fellow and Kaori Maki to Licentiate of Designer Bookbinders.

Simon Haigh and Nesta Davies have been Licentiates in the past and they both applied for two year extensions as allowed by recent amendments to the Articles of Conduct - this was granted.

Congratulations to all ! Their details can be found on the members page.

Professione Libro
Courses and workshops to suit all levels of interest and skill have recently been announced by this Italian book arts organisation.

Further details can be found here.

New DB Secretary/Membership Secretary
Wendy Hood has taken over from Jeanette Koch as Designer Bookbinders Secretary, and also from Marianne Harwood as Membership Secretary as from February 2008. See the Officers & Contact pages for Wendy's biog and contact details.

Designer Bookbinders would like to sincerely thank both Jeanette and Marianne for their dedicated and excellent work over the years, and wish them all the best for the future.

And good luck to Wendy in her new posts!

Beautiful British Books

   

Beautiful British Books is the catalogue that accompanied the British printing/bookbinding historical retrospective & DB exhibition held in Japan, 2006.

Limited copies of this catalogue are now available to buy online in our publications section.

Gordon Hartley
It is with great sadness that we must report the sudden death of the Society of Bookbinders Chairman, Gordon Hartley, on Thursday 29th November, following a severe stroke.
Designer Bookbinders offer their sincere condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.
-----------

Please address all enquires to SoB President, Maureen Duke or to Tim Gulliford of the SoB West Region, who has agreed to be Acting Chairman.

Bookbinding Competition 2007
The results of the annual DB Competition are now available in our COMPETITIONS section.

DB Online Shop Now Open!
You may now purchase all available Designer Bookbinders publications in our Online Shop. Members should contact publications@designerbookbinders.org.uk to obtain a Username and Password for the Members' Shop where they can purchase back issues of TNB at discounted prices.

DB Lecture Series 2007/08
Dates and speakers have been finalised for the latest series of highly regarded Designer Bookbinders Lectures - details can be found on the TEACHING/DB Lectures page.

Erratum DB Newsletter No 139 - Summer 2007
Re: Notice of Workshops on Historic Bindings in Patmos, Greece (p12)
Unfortunately the typesetter has run the postal address for these workshops into the email address.

The postal address for Nikolas Sarris is:

Supervisor of Book Conservation Studio
St. John Theologian Monastery
Patmos
Greece

Nikolas' email address: sarris1@otenet.gr

Headline
Rachel Ward-Sale and Julia Dummett have taken over organizing the DB Lecture Series from Virginia McArdle. The society would like to thank Virginia for her hard work over the past two years.

Lectures will be held at The Art Workers Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC2
Details of the 2007/08 series can be found on the lectures page of our TEACHING section.

Philip Smith: Extraordinary Bindings from an Englishman
An exhibition of work by DB Fellow Philip Smith in Portland, Oregon USA from May 19 to July 11, 2007.

The exhibition contains materials borrowed from public and private collections in the United States and Canada, and from the artist's personal collection in England.

Further details & information can be found here: www.multcolib.org/events/collins/philipsmith.html

Sally Lou Smith 1925-2007
Sadly, it has been announced that Sally Lou Smith died on Saturday 28th April following a severe stroke a week previously. Lou was an Hon. Fellow, Fellow and past President of the society and a highly regarded teacher of bookbinding. A comprehensive retrospective of her life and career appeared in The New Bookbinder 21, 2001.

Her funeral will be held at Mortlake Crematorium on Friday 4 May, at 10.30am. No flowers - donations please to Designer Bookbinders.

For further details, please contact Flora Ginn or Keith Adams on 020 7737 3295..

http://www.mortlakecrematorium.org/content/contactus.asp

COVERED 2007
The third Designer Bookbinders exhibition at the Flow Gallery:

COVERED: Beauty and Art in Contemporary Bookbinding
Wed. May 16 2007 Private View - Invitation only (6-9pm)
Show runs from Thursday 17 – Saturday 26 May 2007

More details here.

www.flowgallery.co.uk

Elizabeth Greenhill Centenary - 4th May 2007
Elizabeth Greenhill's ashes will be interred into her family grave according to her wishes. An informal ceremony will take place on the 4th May, 2007, her 100th Birthday, in Richmond Cemetery, Grove Road, Richmond, TW10 at 12.30pm.

Following the ceremony we will gather for a picnic lunch, which will be provided, in the Grove Gardens Chapel from 1-3pm (Grove Gardens Chapel is in Richmond Cemetery).

The Greenhill family grave is located in Richmond Cemetery, Section Q double plot 3511/3512. Please note that Richmond Cemetery is adjacent to East Sheen Cemetery and the entrance to Richmond Cemetery is on Lower Grove Road (off Queens Road B353).

For further details please get in touch with Keith Adams (e: keith.adams@cancer.org.uk) or Flora Ginn (tel - 020 7737 3295).

All are invited and we look forward to seeing you there.

Call For Entry - International Design Binding Exhibition,
Quebec City, Canada
Quebec City will celebrate the 400th anniversary of its foundation in 2008. ARA-Canada is proud to announce that its International Design Binding Exhibition has been selected for this event. The exhibition will welcome any original design binding presenting a high degree of artistic craftsmanship. The books selected by the design bookbinders can be of any genre (novel, essay, biography, album etc.), era, location or year of publication as long as a strong link to Quebec City is present.

This international exhibition will certainly be a great opportunity to discover rare and captivating design bindings.

Conditions of Entry, Entry Form and other information available at :
http://www.aracanada.org/activities_exhibitions_international_Forever_Bound.html

Helene Francoeur
info@hfrancoeur.com
ARA-Canada
Quebec City

Elizabeth Greenhill 1907-2006
Many members will be saddened to hear of the death of Elizabeth Greenhill on 30 December 2006. Elizabeth was both the first woman Fellow of The Guild of Contemporary Bookbinders (now DB) in 1961 and also President of DB in 1975. She was made an Hon. Fellow of the society in 1985.

A full obituary can be found here.

New courses added
Details of courses in Aberdeenshire (Mark Ramsden), Wiltshire (Lori Saur & Urchfont Manor) and London (Studio Five) have been added to the Courses page.

The Gregynog Press – Discounts on Unbound Publications to DB Members
Gwasg Gregynog (The Gregynog Press) is a registered Charity, one of whose aims is to promote and encourage the highest standards in traditional book production, which of course, includes fine binding.

In order to encourage the latter, and in pursuit of its charitable aims, it sponsored a Gregynog Fine Binding Prize at last year's SoB Conference, and continues to offer unbound copies of its Special Bindings catalogue at a discounted price to members of both DB and SoB.

In further pursuance of its charitable objectives, the Press is pleased to announce that it has now decided to apply a special discount to unbound copies of all its publications, exclusively to members of DB and SoB. It is hoped that this will make the acquisition of fine books in sheets more accessible to members, and in turn inspire the creation of ever-finer bindings.

Further details are available on application:
Gwasg Gregynog
Tregynon
Y Drenewydd/Newtown
Powys
SY16 3PW

T: 01686 650625
F: 01686 650656
E: gwasg_gregynog@btconnect.com
www.gregynogpress.co.uk

Applications to become a Fellow or Licentiate
Fellows of Designer Bookbinders are elected on submission of their work and are considered to have achieved the highest standards in both design and technique. Fellows are the exhibiting members of the society.

Licentiates are elected on the basis that their submitted work displays the potential in design and technique for them to be considered as candidates for fellowship within five years. They also have the opportunity for their work to be shown in the society’s exhibitions. Designer Bookbinders are keen to encourage new talent and each Licentiate has two Fellows appointed as mentors to help develop their design and technical skills to the highest possible standards.

To apply you must be a practising bookbinder either born or resident in Britain, or have practised in the United Kingdom for at least five years for fellowship or three years for licentiateship and be resident when you apply.

Applications are considered in February each year and occasionally in September.

For more information and an application form please contact:
E:  secretary@designerbookbinders.org.uk

Dates of forthcoming DBPL, Executive Committee and Fellows & Licentiates meetings can be found on the meetings page.

Lectures will be held on Tuesday evenings at The Artworkers Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC2 at 6.30pm. Details on the lectures page of our TEACHING section.