Sir Thomas Bodley: Conservator Extraordinaire

by Kyrsten Myrup

So far this semester, we have devoted much time to learning about the technical process of bookmaking, including the historical origins of various book forms and bookmaking techniques. Complementary to this history is the survival stories of the books themselves—the institutions and individuals that have acquired them and preserved them through the ravages of time…

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Sir Thomas Bodley (1545–1613) by unknown artist. © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

« I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library. »

A far cry from the halls of Gorgas where sleep-deprived, coffee-toting undergrads stumble up and down the aisles—sending shivers down the spines of books and librarians alike—the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford requires each new visitor to take the above oath prior to admittance. Originally recited in Latin, the text has been updated and translated into many languages and signing a letter can now replace the formal oath-swearing ceremony. However, the library’s tenet remains the same: to preserve its books for the benefit of generations to come.  

The origins of the Bodleian Library date back to the year 1320 when a room in the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin became Oxford’s first library. The books, as was common throughout the Middle Ages, were literally chained to the shelves to prevent thievery. Over a century later, in the year 1437, the library would see its first major expansion when Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester (the youngest brother of King Henry V) made a generous donation of 281 priceless manuscripts to Oxford. Having outgrown its room, a new building was constructed for the library over the Divinity School, completed in 1488 and dubbed Duke Humfrey’s Library.

Duke Humfrey’s Library by unknown photographer. © Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

However, this library was to be short-lived and during the events of the English Reformation in the year 1550, Oxford’s Dean of Christ Church (the man responsible for the school’s religious college)—anxious to remove any trace of Catholicism from the school—cleared the library’s shelves, ordering some of the books burnt. (To this day, only three of the original manuscripts donated by Duke Humfrey can be found on the shelves of the Bodelian Library.) The erstwhile library was commandeered by the Faculty of Medicine and, for a time, Oxford lost its library. It was in this state of affairs that Sir Thomas Bodley came onto the scene in 1598.  

Though his name would be immortalized by the library he restored in the last 15 years of his life, Bodley’s life experience during the preceding 53 years could fill volumes and was crucial to the success of the library he founded. Bodley was born into a wealthy Protestant family during the last year of Henry VIII’s reign. When he was only eight years old, the ascension of Mary I (dubbed Bloody Mary by the Protestants she persecuted) forced his family to seek sanctuary abroad, first in modern-day Germany and later in Geneva. While an adolescent in Geneva, Bodley received an exemplary education, including study of history and the classics as well as Hebrew, Latin, and Greek in addition to philosophy and religious education (John Calvin was living in Geneva at the time).

When the ascension of Elizabeth I to the throne in 1559 allowed his family to return to England, Bodley began his studies at Oxford’s Merton College, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1563. The next year he was admitted as a university fellow (equivalent in some ways to a grad student today) and soon became the first Greek lecturer at Oxford, one of many positions he would hold at the university over the course of his academic career.

By the mid-1570s, however, Bodley was ready for a change of scene. In his own words, he “waxed desirous to travel beyond the Seas, for attaining to the knowledge of some special modern tongues, and for the increase of [his] experience in the managing of affairs.” In 1576, Oxford granted him leave to go abroad. This sojourn in Europe, much like his first one, would yield dividends for his future.

When Bodley returned from Europe after four years abroad, he had become proficient in three new languages: Spanish, Italian, and French. Towards the end of his time abroad, he had already begun to carry out delicate missions for English ambassadors he encountered abroad. However, his diplomatic (read espionage) career would really take flight in the mid-1580s after he came to the attention of Queen Elizabeth.  

In 1583, Elizabeth I, appointed him a gentleman usher, likely a cover for the clandestine missions he would be sent on in the service of the state. Two years later, the Queen sent him on his first major mission for the state, attempting to gain the support of a duke and the Danish king for the Huguenot Henry III of Navarre (the future King Henry IV of France) in the midst of the bloody Wars of Religion in France. In 1588, he would be sent solo into France itself with an oral message and a hand-written note from Queen Elizabeth to the King Henry III of France who was in hiding at the time.

In the midst of his missions during a brief return to England, Bodley married a wealthy widow, Anne Carey of Bristol. This alliance would be critical to his later efforts to restore Oxford’s library, which were funded largely via the fortune of Anne’s late husband. In 1588, Henry was sent to the Netherlands again as a resident diplomat, part of a long-term effort to persuade the United Provinces to defensively ally themselves against Spain. He would serve in this position for over nine years with only brief trips back to England.

Elizabeth I (the “Armada Portrait”) by the English School, 16th Century. © 2022 Royal Museums Greenwich

By his third year in the Netherlands, Bodley was hoping to be sent home and frequently requested to be recalled. Queen Elizabeth, insensitive to the many political intrigues he had to navigate while attempting to gain financial recompense from the provinces for the costs of war with Spain—including secret committees and intentionally drawn-out administrative delays—was often very unappreciative of his efforts.

When he was finally recalled to England in 1597, Bodley had become quite disillusioned and resigned permanently from diplomatic service. Ignoring at least three later attempts by the state to bring him out of retirement (which included a knighthood), he would leave a life of government service behind and embark upon a new effort: the restoration of a library at Oxford.

It is unclear exactly when Bodley first took up the idea of restoring a library at Oxford. As a former student and teacher there, he would have been acutely aware of the lack of a library and, according to his own narration of events, was “thoroughly persuaded, that in [his] solitude, and surcease from the Commonwealth affairs, [he] could not busy [himself] to better purpose, than by reducing that place (which then in every part lay ruined and waste) to the public use of students.” In 1598, he wrote a letter to the University, expressing his desire to undertake the restoration and renovation of the library, financially supporting the project via his own funds and important connections. His request was excepted and the effort was soon underway, making rapid progress.

Beyond restoring the existing library space and making plans for its future expansion Bodley donated more than 2,000 of his own books to the library, constituting the majority of the collections when the library first opened in 1602. Using his considerable social influence and diplomatic savvy, Bodley would secure many important donations in the years that followed from his friends and acquaintances and within three years, the collection had more than doubled. Seven years after Bodley’s death in 1613, the library contained more than 23,000 books.

Much of the long-term success of the Bodleian Library, from its founding in 1602 through the present day, can be directly attributed to Bodley’s innovative and revolutionary ideas about running a library coupled with staunch adherence to the library rules and regulations he established. One of these many innovations included the creation of a rich vellum-covered book, displayed in prominence in the center of the library, which included the name of every person to donate to the library. Successful from its outset, this is a practice employed in many libraries to this day.

Beyond the book donations provided by others, Bodley was able to use the generous monetary donations in addition to his own funds to carefully choose works he deemed would be vital to the collection. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Bodley’s literary interests extended far beyond classical European manuscripts. Through his efforts, the library secured Hebrew, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Syriac, and Syriac.

Bodley also used important connections to buy expensive Chinese books from merchants of the Dutch East India Company, in spite of the fact that they were largely regarded as curios at the time and no one at the library could translate them for over two hundred years following their acquisition. The grand finale to Bodley’s book-collecting for the library was the agreement he made with Stationers’ Company of London to receive a free copy of every book they published, a precursor of the legal deposit system—used to archive a physical copy of all published books—used in Britain to this day.

In keeping with his sensibilities regarding the importance of having a diverse literary collection, Bodley also championed making the library accessible to all scholars, no matter their institution of origin. This was a very revolutionary concept at a time when the use of a certain institution’s library was mainly limited to the institution’s own professors and scholars and outside invitations were rare. Bodley also extended the library’s open hours to six hours a day—far more than the four hours a week typical of other libraries at the time—and prioritized the creation of a library catalog the benefit of all visitors.

Central to the survival of the Bodleian library was a policy enforced by Bodley which would seem contrary to the purpose of most libraries today. Visitors to the library were not allowed to check out books in any way but had to do all of their reading onsite. It was very common at the time for library materials to permanently disappear in this way. This policy was strictly reinforced after Bodley’s death causing the library to refuse the requests of such figures as Charles I and Oliver Cromwell among others, but at the same time enabling its many priceless collections to remain intact to this day.

Bodley left his final contribution to the library through the terms of his will. After devoting the last 15 years of his life to restoring a library to Oxford (and also writing a first-of-its-kind autobiography in the process) he passed away in 1613 at the age of 67. Two years prior, he had conceived a new plan to expand the library—financing the construction via his own funds and a well-thought scheme using the library’s existing assets—which would be carried out in the years following his death. While he did leave various smaller bequeathments to individuals, to the consternation of some of his family and friends (most especially, a brother and niece who would take his will to court—losing their case) he left the lion’s share of his fortune, some 7,000 pounds to Oxford and the library.

Bodley’s legacy lives on today in the Bodleian Library, the second-largest library in Britain and part of the larger Bodleian Libraries system which now houses some 13 million works, a large portion of which have been digitized. Among the works most prized by scholars in the Bodleian Library to this day are four copies of the Magna Carta, a 1455 Gutenberg Bible, the only surviving manuscript of the Song of Roland (written in Old French circa. 1130), the Ashmole Manuscripts (dating from the 11th through 17th centuries), and the Codex Bodley (dating back to pre-conquest Mexico).The library also houses one of the largest collections of premodern Chinese manuscripts in Europe.

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While you may not be an Oxford scholar, you can access many of the Bodleian collections digitally (see links below). And you’ve likely seen the interior of the Bodleian Library. It provided one of the filming locations for the Hogwarts library throughout the Harry Potter film series.

Just for Fun…

Digitization of Bodley’s autobiography (first published in 1647), you can turn the pages and everything: https://archive.org/details/TheLifeOfSirThomasBodleyWrittenByHimself/mode/2up

Virtual Guided Tour of the Bodleian Library, make sure to scroll around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M70H4M_pL4o

Search or browse the Bodleian Libraries Digital Collections: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/browse/

Sources Cited:

https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-2759

https://library.missouri.edu/news/special-collections/the-importance-of-thomas-bodley-400-years-later

https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/666

https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/plan-your-visit/history-bodleian

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1433166&site=ehost-live&scope=site

(MLA for above reference since it won’t be accessible without being logged into EBSCO via UA Libraries:

Patrick Lo, et al. Inside the World’s Major East Asian Collections : One Belt, One Road, and Beyond. Chandos Publishing, 2017.)

https://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/oxford-harry-potter/#:~:text=Bodleian%20Library%20%E2%80%93%20Duke%20Humfrey's%20Library,accessible%20with%20a%20private%20tour.

The Blount Book of Scholars: Who We Are and What We’re Doing

by Annabelle Blomeley

The scribe, the writer, the translator, the secretary, the amanuensis, the scrivener, the historian. These are things I was thinking about as I walked back from the library with a bag of kettle chips and a blue powerade in hand. What was my role? What was my job in this Blount bookmaking class? I am Annabelle, and I am all of the things listed above and more. 

Many people say the scribe is the most important role in any group. In ancient Egypt, scribes wrote down everything from magic spells to tax records, which are two of the most important pillars of a society. Despite my very important job, there are seven other important people in the making of the Blount Book of Scholars. So here’s a rundown of the people in the Blount Bookmaking Course and their slightly less important jobs.

ANNABELLE (AKA THE SCRIBE AND ACCOUNTANT)

As I mentioned previously, I am Annabelle, and I do have the most important job (relatively). Not only did I do all of the stuff written above, but I am also the reason we have the supplies to do this project in the first place because I managed the budget. I made an Excel spreadsheet and sent it to Dr. Whiting, who is giving us the money. He even said we could do our highball offer (as opposed to doing this like extreme cheapskates), and I’m not saying he did that because of me, but I did send the budget so…

Annabelle (very important) and Noah (also important).

JILLIAN (AKA THE PROFESSOR)

Arguably the second most important person in the class. Jillian is many things: the bringer of sour cream containers, lover of fungus, the owner of this blog, and perhaps the most intriguing, she’s our professor and an actual book artist. 

With this being said, Jillian actually taught us everything we know (except scribing, I knew how to do that already). Throughout this semester, Jillian explored the world of books with us and helped us narrow down our focus for the Blount Book of Scholars. On top of that, she is doing everything that the people below are doing because she is helping us and managing the class (again, the scribe doesn’t really need help, but thanks anyway Jillian.)

Jillian and Randi Jo talking about the big book.

RANDIE JO (AKA THE MAKER OF THE BOOKS)

When determining who would do what, it was obvious that some people had better skills than others. In the realm of actual bookmaking, Randie Jo was the most meticulous and patient, so we thought she should actually make the books. Don’t get me wrong, we’re all pretty good at bookmaking, but when it comes to straight lines, sharp bone folds, and even edges, Randie Jo was just the person.

With the big book, which will contain the classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021, we had to make it one big book because we couldn’t cut down pages that already had lines and signatures on it. We’ve put most of the big book configuring onto Randie Jo. She chose to make the big book a hardcover stab binding so we had variety and not just a bunch of case bindings.

JADE (AKA JAMES AND JENNIFER’S DAUGHTER)

What is a book without a case to put it in? Arguably it’s still just a book. Despite this, we felt the Blount Book of Scholars needed a fancy case to put it in, especially because we decided to do many books (one book for each Blount class). At first, we thought that the case would make up a majority of our budget because we wanted it to be wood, and woodworkers are not cheap. Enter: Jennifer and James. 

Who are Jennifer and James? They’re the parents of Jade, and she somehow convinced them to make the wooden case for us, even though they live in New York (we did reimburse them).  But Jade is not just the daughter of master woodworkers (James and Jennifer are NOT master woodworkers, which makes them even cooler), she also helped me with the budget once (thanks, I guess). She’s also a good measurer and communicator, and she did the entire mockup and idea of the case itself so she’s pretty far up on the important meter.

Jade and Randie Jo tearing down paper to make new paper.

MEG (AKA THE COLOPHON WRITER AND HIDDEN COMPARTMENT CONFIGURER)

Not only does Meg have a very classy name, but she also loves hidden compartments and if there was a job dedicated to just hidden compartments, she would take the cake. Also the colophon is a very important part of the bookmaking process because it tells you who made the book (or who scribed for it, or who did the budget), and so Meg took these two very crucial parts of the book (the hidden compartment and the colophon) and merged them into one VERY important part of the Blount Book of Scholars. 

Meg came up with the entire idea of the hidden colophon, which is a hardcover accordion-style pull out. This is very cool, if you can’t already tell. Because the box would be less cool without the hidden compartment, Meg and Jade (and Jade’s mom and dad) worked a lot together on the case. Meg also measured a lot, drew mockups, and allowed me to draw a cow in the colophon (I forgot to mention I am an artist).

Meg and Jade making a mock up of the box and the hidden compartment.

NOAH (AKA THE CONTENT CREATOR AND INSTRUCTION VIDEOGRAPHER)

What is a book without content? This could be a very long argument, and it’s a complex issue (according to Jillian). There was some content we knew had to be in the Blount Book of Scholars, and this was pretty much just the signatures we already have from the previous classes (which are being put in Randie Jo’s Big Book). But for the small books without signatures, we needed content (other than printed lines for future generations to sign their names). This is where Noah came in. Noah made several mockups of what the content inside the small books would look like, literally down to the page. He also really wanted the small books to be a very specific size, which we kind of went with. 

Noah, with the help of Libby, also helped make the instructional videos for future Blount bookmakers to make the rest of the small books. He’s a creative media major so he ought to be good at video editing and making, right? We hope so.

LIBBY (AKA THE VIDEOGRAPHER AND THE SKETCHER)

Noah can’t make a whole instructional video alone though. Libby stepped in to help, and they’re filming this video relatively soon. We’re filming the videos so future Blount bookmakers know how to complete a book for their own class. We’re planning on having 17 small books and then one big book, and we don’t want to make 17 small books so we’re opening it up to collaboration with future classes.

Libby also helped with making the sketches and illustrations for the small book, which will have cute illustrations among the names. She’s very good at drawing squirrels so we know she’ll do a good job. She also learned how to create vectors on Adobe Illustrator, which according to her took her five seconds so she’s ready to take on the graphics for the books.

Libby and Eliyana coming up with sketches for the book.

ELIYANA (AKA THE SKETCHER AND PRINTMAKER)

The Blount Book of Scholars would be very lame without pictures because then it would just be boring signatures (most of which are literally unreadable). Libby and Eliyana came up with several images that represent Blount, like squirrels, the study desks in Tuomey, and many more. Over the summer, they’re going to use linoleum block printing to make stamps out of their images and print them into the books.

Not only did Eliyana do all of the stuff mentioned above, but she also gave me a bandaid once when I sliced into my thumb with an Olfa knife during a case binding. For this, she kept the scribe scribing, which is very crucial.

Are Test Tubes Books?

by Jade Cartolano

Throughout the semester we have researched about many different styles of books, books using different forms, and the definition of a book.  This class has pushed my definition of what a book is and has caused me to question the way I look at books.  The question of what makes a book a book, was one that was posed multiple times.  We were never able to pinpoint a specific defining quality that made something a book.  Whether it was a sour cream container filled with little squares of notes or a traditional codex form, although they had different qualities, both were considered books in our class. 

Geo Rutherford’s Beaches of the Great Lakes 2020- Unique Artist Book Set. Source: georutherford.com

The books that really pushed my definition of a book were books in the form of test tubes.  Beaches of the Great Lakes 2020- Unique Artist Book Set was the first time I had seen this form used.  This book set caught my eye immediately.  The author of this book set is Geo Rutherford, a book artist living in Wisconsin.  The book is a set of five books, each representing a different lake.  The small details put into this book set made it stand out.  One clever detail was the dimensions of the handmade boxes represented the surface area and depth of the lakes.

Once the box is opened, vintage test tubes are revealed.  The contents of the test tube are specimens that Geo Rutherford collected on the shore of the Great Lake represented by that box.  Since the test tubes are free floating in the box, there is no specific order the reader should go in while looking at the test tubes.  This allows each reader to have a unique experience while interacting with the book set.

Ice Fredericks’ Book Box 2021. Source: Instagram @ice.fredericks

Rutherford is not the only author to do this.Ice Fredericks is another book maker who used jars as the form of the book in their work Book Box. In this work, each jar contains a specimen of a faux taxidermy animal or insect.Unlike Rutherford’s work, there is no text included with the box.

Using Rutherford’s and Fredericks’ work as inspiration, I set out to make my own test tube book. The book I made is titled Canoe and it uses a poem written by Jaycee Cartolano titled “Ocean”. This is one of my sister’s poems that she wrote several years ago. It inspired me to read more poetry. The poem is a total of 10 lines and is below in bold.

Ocean

Blue, green peaks that form and just as quickly fade

From a distance they seem small and flat

But closer they move like a dance across the horizon

The sun glistens off the surface, a little extra at the tips

As she does the colors change with each motion

Blue, green, crystal swirling together on my canvas

The smells of sweet salt sweep through my nose

Foam tickles my toes as her arms sweep across the sand

Her hands slip through my fingers leaving behind a cool damp memory

Kisses from the sun tingle on the back of my neck

I put each line of the poem in a different test tube.  While reading the poem, I filled the test tube with something that reminded me of that line that I had in the environment around me.  This was a representation of how the poem made me feel and how my environment impacted my ability to express these feelings.  Every reader's experience is different given they could pull the test tubes in a different order every time.  This is also expressed in the title.  The title of my book is an anagram of the poem’s title.

Jade Cartolano, Canoe

After this article, I hope you question your definition of what a book is and I hope this inspires you to try making books in unconventional forms.

Sources:

Source 1: https://www.georutherford.com/great-lakes-beaches.html

Source 2: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPghPllngYl/

Anne Carson: Merging the Worlds of the Ancient Greeks, Poetry, and Book Arts

by Annabelle Blomeley

The term “classics” is typically defined as the language and literature of ancient Greece and the Roman empire, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. When many people think of this time period and their art, a picture of red clay pots decorated with ancient heroes and myths of powerful gods and goddesses might enter their mind.

When people think classicist, they might think of a relatively boring person in an office tirelessly translating Sappho’s love poems or Aeschylus’s “The Oresteia.” While famed classicist and poet Anne Carson has translated both of those things, her career has been defined by breaking the boundaries of translating and experimenting with poetry.

Anne Carson. Source: Jeff Brown for The New York Times

Anne Carson is best known for her traditional poetry books, such as “Autobiography of Red” and “Plainwater,” but she has also experimented with different book formats that foray into the world of book arts.

In her three more experimental books listed below, Carson weaves her poetry with translation, found objects, and historical book forms to create modern works of art.

Nox

Nox. Source: New Directions Publishing and Anne Carson via amazon.com

After the death of her brother, Carson began creating Nox, a book of poetry that seemingly resembles more of a scrapbook than a traditional book. As an ode to her brother, Carson merges poetry and classic translations with pasted bits of books, physical objects representative of memories, and more.

In the content, Carson doesn’t forget her role as a classicist, and she loosely translates (in pure Carson style) Catullus’s Poem 101, which is an elegy for his brother.

On top of the experimental content, Nox is no ordinary codex. It’s actually one very long accordion book, meaning it’s one long sheet of paper folded back and forth, accordion-style, with content on both the front and back of the pages.

While most accordions seem to be relatively short since pieces of paper can only be so long and splicing would require more time and precision, Carson’s is the width of a normal 300 to 400 page book. It even comes in a hardback box to contain the page(s) that is fixed with grayish blue fabric as a cover. 

Nox. Source: Toni Cenicola via The New York Times

Nox was originally made by Carson with her own hands, including the accordion folding, the pasting of memorabilia and photographs, and even stains and her own handwriting sprinkled throughout the pages. 

One of the most interesting things about Nox is the way in which the publisher, New Directions, manufactures nearly identical copies of the book to sell to the general public. While there didn’t seem to be any pictures online of Carson’s original book, the photocopied pages and two-dimensional quality of the clearly once three-dimensional pastings are an interesting look into the manufacturing process of books that travel into the realm of book arts.

Both Carson and New Directions Publishing are no strangers to experimental literature, but the experimentation of book forms in a publishing setting is something not seen often. In fact, when checking Nox out at the library, the attendant gleefully said, “Oh, it comes in a little box!”

H of H Playbook

H of H Playbook. Source: New Directions Publishing

Nox isn’t Carson’s only clothbound book. Her newest publication, H of H Playbook, which came out in 2021, shows that Carson isn’t done experimenting with her books. Although the playbook doesn’t have its own box and is in a traditional form, Carson makes the codex her own.

The shape is one of the odder aspects of the book. The width is much shorter than the height, flipping the traditional codex on its side and printing lengthwise on the shorter spine. The cover of the book is fitted with black cloth.

H of H Playbook has been hailed as the unofficial sequel to arguably Carson’s most famous poetry book The Autobiography of Red. It takes her normal style of translating, this time with Euripides' tragedy about Herakles, who returns home from his twelve labors just to struggle to fit back in with society and his family.

Like many of Carson’s translations, H of H Playbook is more of retelling of Euripides’ original play, which especially makes sense when you realize Carson has already translated Herakles’ story in “Grief Lessons.” By weaving his story with her own poetry, reflections, drawings, and pastings, Carson transforms the classic play into an experimental art/poetry book.

Page in H of H Playbook. Source: New Directions and Anne Carson via Barnes and Noble

According to her Interview Magazine article with Tacita Dean, Carson explains that H of H Playbook came out of her time during the COVID-19 pandemic, where she forced herself to write and draw daily self-portraits from a home in Iceland. 

Like many of Carson’s more nontraditional pieces, H of H Playbook is published by New Directions. While the manufactured versions are clearly just photoprints of Carson’s original scrapbooking method, the pages almost feel touched by Carson herself. 

The Albertine Workout 

While not made directly by Carson herself, Carson’s publishing house New Directions Publishing presented a new series of poetry pamphlets in 2013. Inspired by James Laughlin’s “Poet of the Month” and “Poets of the Year” series from the 1940s, the collection is currently made of 28 pamphlets, each consisting of one long poem.

New Directions Poet of the Month Ad circa 1942. Source: New Directions Publishing

James Laughlin originally started writing poetry under the direction of famous poet Ezra Pound after he dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year. He was most interested in experimental modern literature with a radical twist, but even Pound suggested he become a publisher instead. To elevate spaces for experimentation, Laughlin started the publishing house New Directions, where he began his Poet of the Month and Poets of the Year series.

Laughlin’s series published many great experimental works and writers, including William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, e.e. cummings, Marianne Moore and many more. When New Directions “reincarnated” the series in 2013, they continued to make new ones until November 2019.

According to New Directions, the poetry pamphlets series hopes to “highlight original work by writers from around the world, as well as forgotten treasures lost in the cracks of literary history.​”

“The Albertine Workout.” Source: New Directions Publishing

Anne Carson’s poetry pamphlet appeared on June 25, 2014, and included her poem “The Albertine Workout,” which researches Albertine, the principle love interest of Marcel in Marcel Proust’s 1913 book “Á la recherche du temps perdu,” or “In Search of Lost Time.”

In what seems to be similar to the form of the modern-age chapbook, pamphlets are small, easy-to-make books with no hard cover. In many cases, they are just several folios stacked inside each other and sewn together. In New Directions case, the poetry pamphlets are stapled together using two thin staples along the spine.

In its bid for experimental and new works, New Directions seems like just the publisher for Carson’s new era. With her sudden interest in making books that dip into the characteristics of book arts, Carson is merging the field with her already experimental poetry and translations. While the manufacturing of the books might hinder their ability to be considered book art, Carson is still taking a page from the book artist’s book.

Anne Carson. Source: Christopher Sherman for Interview Magazine

Works Cited:

Brown, Jeff. “Anne Carson, the Author of “Red Doc >” and “Autobiography of Red.,”” The New York Times, 14 Mar. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/magazine/the-inscrutable-brilliance-of-anne-carson.html. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

Carson, Anne. “Nox,” Amazon.com, www.amazon.com/Nox-Anne-Carson/dp/0811218708. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

Cenicola, Toni. “Lamentation,” The New York Times, 11 June 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/books/review/Ratliff-t.html. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

New Directions Publishing. “H of H Playbook,” New Directions, www.ndbooks.com/book/h-of-h-playbook/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

“Pamphlets.” www.ndbooks.com, www.ndbooks.com/series/pamphlets/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

Sherman, Christopher. “Anne Carson Punches a Hole through Greek Myth,” Interview Magazine, 16 Dec. 2021, www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/anne-carson-punches-a-hole-through-greek-myth. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

“100 Years of James Laughlin: A Celebration of His Life and Work.” www.ndbooks.com, 29 Oct. 2014, www.ndbooks.com/article/100-years-of-james-laughlin-a-celebration-of-his-life-and-work/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

The Colliding Worlds of Zines and Book Arts

by Libby Foster

Zines exploded in the 1970s punk movement and remain relevant today. Source: wikipedia.com

If there is one thing I have learned this semester, it’s that almost anything can be classified as a book. Without a doubt, zines fit within the category of books. They contain content and are bound (or not) by their author. Zines are especially exciting to me because they make book arts accessible to anyone. Though I struggle to create an Ethiopian case binding, I can certainly format, copy, and fold the pages of a zine.

Zines are all about returning to the basics. So, let’s ask the most basic question: what is a zine? A zine is a small, self-published work that is usually photocopied from an original and distributed in limited circulation. They are often associated with the punk movement.

Book arts are so interesting to me because they emphasize a return to craftsmanship. The mass production of books from the industrial revolution onward depersonalized the book and its text. Zines have reacted similarly to the book arts world in their outlook on deindustrialization: they emphasize analogue arts and limited circulation.

Writers like Austin Kleoh who may not be formally trained in book arts use zines and collage as a creative outlet. Source: austinkleoh.com

I am creating a zine for my final Blount project, and my research has revealed findings that I feel apply to the book arts world. One of the most famous zines of all time, Punk, used sarcasm throughout and hand written notes. The use of sarcasm and humor could make the often elaborately created books of the book arts world more accessible and relatable. In addition, longtime zine creators expressed a disdain for programs like InDesign that make the process of creation digital. I have noticed that most of the books we analyze in this book arts class seem to be designed by hand. Still, it is important that book artists remain aware of the implications of digital design on their craft. Digital platforms give artists infinite material, which can be overwhelming and take away from the organic nature of creation. This is especially true for art forms like collage, which are often incorporated into zines.

The book arts and zine worlds have commonalities that can allow the two to learn from each other. Though zines are more casual and book arts are more academic, the two both seek to bring individuality back to the book. My study of book arts has allowed me to feel more prepared to make my own zine. Though I may not be creating case bindings after this class, I’ll use the knowledge of design and binding I gained to enhance my zines.

Zines allow for unique individual expression. The use of an individual’s handwriting adds another layer of personality to zines. Source: Washington University Libraries

Holding it all Togther

by Meg Brown

It could be said that, at its simplest, the purpose of glue in bookbinding is to hold the components of a book together. With all due respect to Occam’s Razor, to get a full picture of what’s going on with bookbinding glue we need to do a bit more digging. According to Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, archival adhesives in bookbinding must have these three properties: “they must wet the surfaces to be joined but not so much as to cause the adhered materials to cockle; 2) they must have sufficient flexibility so as not to crack when the joint is flexed; and 3) they must be strong but not as strong as the materials they bond, so that stress to the point of failure of the joint will not damage the archival material but will result only in the failure of the adhesive.” The popularities of many kinds of bookbinding glue have fluctuated throughout time—partially due to how well the glues fulfilled these sought-after properties.

Figure 1: Flour Paste. Source: Eidolon House

The most significant types of bookbinding glue used historically fall under the umbrellas of flour paste or animal glue. As increasing demand for books encouraged faster production, glued bindings eventually reached and surpassed the popularity of sewed-only bindings. Of the two types of adhesives, flour paste was more popular for longer, and is still used for modern day bookbinding projects because of how easy it is to make. According to Blaxton in “Adhesives in an historic library,” flour paste may be the “earliest adhesive seen in bookbinding.” Bookbinders sometimes added alum (which can be used to control pH levels), salicylic acid, and animal glue to their flour paste, but have since found that these additives can cause increased discoloration and rate of deterioration where applied. Flour paste does have multiple drawbacks. The adhesive breaks down if used on flexible or often-moved parts of books. If the flour used to make the paste has a high gluten content, it can also attract bugs and mold. However, there is a way to make gluten free starch paste that may avoid some of these problems.

The use of animal glue was also extremely popular. Animal glue is made by boiling animal connective tissue, which breaks down collagen. The resulting structure of the proteins allows it to form bonds. This type of glue is reversible and can be used for book restoration when avoiding permanent alterations of the original materials. Hide glue is a similar kind of adhesive, but is instead made by boiling animal skins. Both animal and hide glue are less durable than flour paste—as they dry, they grow brittle and lose flexibility. They also have relatively low pH levels, which leads to oxidization. If used on the spine of a book, this can lead to pages falling out.

Figure 2: Animal glue. Source: The Upstyle Wood Guide

Figure 3: PVA. Source: The Western NY Book Arts Center

One of the most widely used adhesives of the modern day is PVA, or polyvinyl acetate. It was first created in Germany in 1912, and now nearly all commercially bound books are produced with PVA. PVA is extremely versatile and is widely used due to its strength and flexibility. It is water soluble, does not attract bugs or mold, and is a good option for a great many situations. If heavily used, PVA can become brittle—which is why many heavily used library books are rebound for sturdiness. Though PVA does not usually discolor surrounding materials, it has drawbacks of deterioration in acidic conditions and being nearly impossible to remove—making it a poor candidate for some restoration work.

Another more recent option is methyl cellulose, which is a plant-based adhesive. Methyl cellulose is reversible and not as strong as other adhesives, leading to its use in more delicate restoration work. It is also often used as an additive to lengthen the drying time of other glues.

Though maybe not the first thing that comes to mind when bookbinding is mentioned, glue is a vital part of bookbinding. The type of glue chosen for a bookbinding project is determined by the form and purpose of that project—just as the needs of bookbinders led to the innovation of different types of adhesives throughout history.

Sources:

• “Adhesives in an historic library – a conservator’s view” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0143749694900078

• Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books. A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED232698

• “Know the Difference | Bookbinding Glue. ” https://blog.papercraftpanda.com/know-the-difference-bookbinding-glue/

• “Book Binding Tutorial: Glues – Tips, Techniques, Types & Recipes” https://www.ibookbinding.com/blog/bookbinding-gluing-tips-techniques-types-info/

Who needs to learn about bookmaking?

By Noah Haynes

According to Fred Whiting, it’s the students of the Blount Scholars Program. Whiting is the director of the Blount Program, which is a liberal arts minor at the University of Alabama.

As part of the coursework, Blount students take three classes in their choice of topics. These classes can cover anything from the politics of tourism to the use of time in film.

Noah and Randie Jo practice bookmaking in the makeshift book studio in Oliver-Barnard Hall at UA.

For the spring semester, Whiting sought to expand the class offerings and brought on bookmaker Jillian Sico. Sico, who has an MFA in Book Arts, also teaches other bookmaking classes at UA.

In her Blount class, Sico has been teaching students how to make a variety of books, including accordions, pamphlets, and case bindings. Additionally, students have weekly readings that prompt discussions on the nature of books.

However, the class is not just academic, but practical as well. Whiting has a project for the students: The Blount Book of Scholars. This book contains all the signatures of Blount students from years past.

Whiting wants the students to use the skills they’ve learned and make a new Blount Book of Scholars. As the semester draws to a close, it’s time to start making something.

Stay tuned to see what we come up with.

(And while you’re waiting, enjoy the student blog posts inspired by our discussions.)