News

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DBUK Touring Exhibition
New work by the Fellows & Licentiates of Designer Bookbinders
Now showing at:

Newcastle City Library
Charles Avison Building
33 New Bridge Street West
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8AX

t: 0191 2774100
e: information@newcastle.gov.uk
website

In the Newcastle Collection showcase on level 6.
20 January – 23 March 2012

Catalogue now available to buy in the online shop.

Touring Dates
LONDON:  The Schneideman Gallery, London.   29 June – 23 July 2011
HULL:  Hull History Centre, Hull.   5 August – 16 September 2011
HALIFAX:  Dean Clough Galleries.   22 October 2011 – 15 January 2012
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE:  Newcastle City Library.   20 January – 23 March 2012
OXFORD:  Bodleian Library.   31 March – 27 May 2012
MANCHESTER:  The John Rylands Library.   29 June – 27 July 2012

Julian Thomas MBE
Congratulations to DB Fellow and past president of the society, Julian Thomas, who has been awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the New Year Honours list, 2012.
Julian, lately of the National Library of Wales as a Conservation Treatment Unit Manager, has been recognised for ‘services to Conservation Science and Bookbinding’.

International Competition 2013
The deadline for registering with the International Competition 2013 has been extended to January 25th 2012. This will give binders more time to source their Shakespeare texts. Finished bindings must reach Oxford by 30 September 2012.

Second DB International Competition Announced
It is with great pleasure that Designer Bookbinders announces the 2nd International Bookbinding Competition in association with Mark Getty and the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford. There will be no ‘set book’. Instead the competition will have the theme of Shakespeare. The binder may choose any edition of Shakespeare’s work in any language. They can choose his dramas, his poetic works, a single play or a collected volume, or a text relating to his life and work.

Click the image below for full details…

The Bookbinding Competition 2011

The submission date for entries to the 2011 Bookbinding Competition will be late October 2011. For exact submission times, dates and entry details all entrants must send a SAE to Lisa von Clemm, 58 Bedford Gardens, London W8 7EH, any time after 1 September 2011. Please state how many, if any, Open Choice books you wish to submit so that Lisa can send you the necessary forms.

The 2011 Bookbinding Competition exhibition will run from Saturday 26 November 2011 until Sunday 22 January 2012 at the John Rylands Library, Manchester. Please pass on this information to anyone who may be entering the competition who is not a DB member.

Covered 2011
The seventh Designer Bookbinders exhibition at the Flow Gallery, London:

SPACE at Dartington
An Exhibition of bindings by Fellows and Licentiates of Designer Bookbinders
is currently on display until 9 September 2011

SPACE at Dartington
Lower Close
Dartington Hall
Totnes
Devon
TQ9 6EL

T. 01803 847103

Open Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm

Africa Boards

SOLD!!!
We are delighted that the collection has now sold for £40,000.
75% goes to the Ethiopian Heritage Fund; 25% to Designer Bookbinders.



Thank you to everyone who contributed to the project. Special thanks to Hannah Brown who also made the presentation box.

It is hoped that the whole collection can be exhibited in the not too distant future.

At the Antiquarian Booksellers Fair in June 2011 Designer Bookbinders will be exhibiting something a bit different. 35 Fellows and Licentiates of the society have each designed and made a 255 x 180mm board based on the theme of Africa. These will be housed in a Tulip and Oak wooden presentation container made by Hannah Brown, and sold as a group in aid of The Ethiopian Heritage Fund.

These boards form a wonderful 'exhibition in a box' - a snapshot of the richly varied type of work being produced in the early 21st. Century by contemporary bookbinders.

This is a way of using our skills to help those less fortunate and also contribute to the preservation of some of the most wonderful objects in the world.

Modern bookbinding is flourishing and there are several stunning private and public collections around the world. This unique project could enhance one such. Here is an opportunity to purchase a dazzling selection of many different styles and techniques.

Lester Capon comments, "Having worked on some of the Ethiopian artifacts and witnessed the extremely difficult conditions in which the people live and work I tried to think of ways in which I could help. I was working on the objects half way up mountains and on my hands and knees on the bare earth, but, of course, I could come home afterwards to the luxury of my bindery and home.

"It was with some trepidation that I suggested this idea to my friends and colleagues in Designer Bookbinders, but they responded with great generosity, entering wholeheartedly into the spirit of the project and have created a wonderful object."

The container and boards will be exhibited and for sale at the London Antiquarian Book Fair in the Olympia Exhibition Centre, on the George Bayntun stand from 9th. - 11th June 2011. 75% of proceeds to The Ethiopian Heritage Fund. (registered charity no. 1110969 www.ethiopianheritagefund.org) 25% of proceeds to Designer Bookbinders (registered charity no. 282018)

The Clothworkers' Company Bursary
Designer Bookbinders is pleased to announce that The Clothworkers' Company has generously offered a bursary to those members of Designer Bookbinders who are resident in the UK.

The Clothworkers' Company has supported the Bookbinding Competition over the past few years with prizes in the Open Choice category. With so many bookbinding courses closing down recently, they are concerned about the lack of training opportunities in the UK for serious bookbinders to broaden and develop there skills.

To help address the situation, the Clothworkers' Company is offering small bursaries totalling £900 to fund the cost of attending any short course in bookbinding such as DB/SoB workshops, master-classes, conferences, or other training events which take place either in the UK or abroad.

Full details and a downloadable application form can be found here.

Contemporary Designer Bookbinding Exhibition

A selling exhibition including the winners of the Designer Bookbinders Competition 2010.
Thursday 3 March until the Saturday 19 March 2011.

Schneideman Gallery
331 Portobello Road
London
W10 5SA

T. 0208 354 7365

More details here.

Romilly's Tools: an incomplete set
Photographs by Verdi Yahooda
Limited edition of 500. All copies numbered.
Price £20 (plus p&p)

We are pleased to announce that we now have copies available of this remarkable collection of 65 black-and-white photographs of the bookbinding tools belonging to Romilly Saumarez Smith, together with an essay by Charles Saumarez Smith.

The photographs were taken in Romilly’s bindery in 1986, and the book brings together three sequences of images of the tools as positive and negative photographs. Some of these images were shown printed on a large scale and mounted on calico as an installation to complement a Designer Bookbinder's exhibition at Leighton House in 1986. Another set was shown at the Yale Centre for British Art in 2010.

The unusual treatment and use of light of the objects are magical, and the book would make a lovely Christmas present for bookbinders and photographers alike!

Available in the online shop and the members' shop.

EXHIBITION OF BOOKER BINDINGS AT THE V&A
8 November 2010 – 31 January 2011
Free admission


Angela James' binding for 'Room' by Emma Donoghue

Each of the Man Booker Prize shortlisted novelists receives one copy of his or her book, bound by an eminent British bookbinder. This year's binders were Glenn Bartley, Mark Cockram, Sue Doggett, Angela James, Dominic Riley and David Sellars. Traditional skills and materials are used in new ways to achieve a modern design that is relevant to the text.

National Art Library Landing, room 74
V&A
South Kensington
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 2RL
t: +44 (0)20 7942 2000

FUNAZAKI & FLYNN: a bookwork retrospective
Ketchum Pleon London Hosts a retrospective of the bookwork of Eri Funazaki & Danny Flynn, which includes new screen-print and letterpress work.

          

The exhibition may be viewed weekdays from 10.00am to 5.00pm from November 15th 2010 to January 7th 2011 at:

Ketchum Pleon London
35-41 Folgate Street
London
E1 6BX

A 'meet the artists' private view event is scheduled from 6 – 8pm on Thursday November 18th 2010.

AN EXHIBITION OF DESIGNER BOOKBINDINGS
Teeside University, Middlesbrough, UK

Date: 18 - 22 October 2010
Opening times: 9.00am - 5.00pm

"We are delighted to exhibit a range of uniquely-bound books, commissioned by University Chancellor Lord Tom Sawyer. The collection is a small showcase of designer bookbinders – a wonderful example of their outstanding and beautiful work. This is a private collection of books, bound by a range of skilled binders. All published before 1900, they travel through time covering ideas, movements and individuals that influenced socialism – from Robert Blatchford’s Merrie England, published in 1894, to William Morris, Artist Writer Socialist, edited by May Morris (1936), which covers his work. The collection will be displayed next to the University’s Exhibition Gallery."

Click here to see a video of Lord Tom Sawyer discussing his collection at the private view.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 2009: Return of 'Water' bindings
All bindings from the USA touring exhibition arrived safely back to the UK in August. On Wednesday 8 September bindings were packed and despatched via courier service to their respective binders in the show. They should arrive in the various countries within 3-5 working days. A signature will be needed on delivery. If you are not at home and the courier cannot deliver, then he will leave a card instructing you about redelivery or collection from a central office.

Some UK binders have arranged to pick up their books from Lisa von Clemm's home in London. Lisa's telephone number to arrange collection is 020 7727 7723. Bindings need to be collected by 30 September.

If you have any further queries please contact: Jeanette Koch (Competition Organizer)
T: +44 (0)20 8986 9235
E: international.competition@designerbookbinders.org.uk

THE BOOKBINDING COMPETITION 2011
The set book for the Competition in 2011 is “The Songlines” by Bruce Chatwin.

Full details can be found here.

THE BOOKBINDING COMPETITION 2010 EXHIBITION
The Exhibition at the John Rylands Library, Deansgate, Manchester is open from Sunday 5th December 2010 to Sunday 13th February 2011 inclusive.

Opening hours: Monday 12-5, Tuesday- Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 12-5.

Closed over Christmas/New Year from 24th December to Sunday 3rd January inclusive.

BOOKBINDER REQUIRED
Vacancy - Full time hand bookbinder / book restorer
(37.5 hrs per week)

Trevor Lloyd is seeking a reliable and dedicated bookbinder with an interest in book restoration to join his small, friendly and extremely busy team at his wonderful Georgian premises in Ludlow.

Trevor specialises in retrospective binding, book restoration, paper conservation and boxmaking, and at times you may be involved in all of these. He is looking for someone with excellent hand skills and a good knowledge of bookbinding and book restoration, although training will be provided if necessary.

Reasonable rates of pay and some overtime is usually available.

Please send a CV to Trevor Lloyd Ltd either by post or email - or call Trevor for an informal initial chat.

Trevor Lloyd Ltd
Antiquarian Book Restoration
12 Old Street
Ludlow
SY8 1NP

T: 01584 876565
info@trevorlloyd.co.uk
www.trevorlloyd.co.uk

The Bookbinding Competition 2010
If anyone requested a set book from Lester Bath for the 2010 Bookbinding Competition during April please contact Lester at l.bath@univ.bangor.ac.uk if you have not yet heard or received anything from her.

Lester's new postal address is:
25 Ffordd Ffrydlas
Bethesda
Bangor
Gwynned
LL57 3BL

Tel: 01248 602591

Covered 2010
The sixth Designer Bookbinders exhibition at the Flow Gallery, London:

More details here.

New Fellow & Licentiates
At the Applications meeting on 27 February 2010, Jo Bird was elected Fellow of Designer Bookbinders.

Also, 2009 Bookbinding Competition prize-winners: Nicky Oliver, Sayaka Fukuda, Simeon Jones and Tom McEwan were elected Licentiate of DB.

Congratulations to all!

These bookbinders' biographies and images will be added to the members pages in due course.

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.