Newtown Historical Society To Look At The Art Of Bookbinding
Newtown Historical Society To Look At The Art Of Bookbinding
It has been said that we cannot judge a book by its cover, but would we be remiss if we judged the book cover by its decoration?
The Newtown Historical Society will attempt to answer this question on Monday, March 14, at 7:30 pm, in the meeting room of the Booth Library, 25 Main Street (Route 25), when John Renjilian will present a program reviewing historical American decorative book bindings.
The binding of books into decorated covers is a process that long predates printing and the book as we think of it as a printed product, having been used for centuries on handwritten manuscripts. These scribal works tended to be religious works done by dedicated monks, or royal records important for governing; thus they were often highly decorated. When the printed book began to dominate distribution of printed words the basic process was carried over and remained largely unchanged, but as books achieved a more common and utilitarian distribution they were often bound serviceably but without great effort at decoration.
Mr Renjilian will go through the process of craft bookbinding, discuss the development of the modern case âbindingâ for books, point out some of the things to look for in judging the quality of a hand binding, and will show slides of a number of examples of decorated American bindings of the 18th and 19th centuries from his personal collection.
John Renjilian is a retired public school librarian, and is also a 40-year veteran as an antiquarian bookseller. He lives in Newtown, and is a trustee of the Newtown Historical Society, and is a founding member of the Friends of C.H. Booth Library, and helps manage the Collectible Room at the Friends book sale each year. Though not a practicing bookbinder, he has long maintained an interest in the subject, and his collection specializes in American bindings.
All Newtown Historical Society programs are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the program. For further information call the society at 426-5937.