Reading List

Recommended by Kim Komando.
I like it.

Illumination

...of the calligraphic kind.

This is astounding. Donald Jackson and team completes a 12 year project of a seven volume illuminated Bible.

Go here to page through some selected books. Some of the artwork is very iconographic in nature.

These are just some of the reproductions available.

Mystery Chef

I absolutely love this cookbook. Frugal (cheap) is the way to go these days.

Via Frugal Cafe.

Books about Books! and how to make them

GretchenJoanna left a comment on my "What I did on my summer vacation" post.
She said she would like to learn how to bind books.

Here's a list of books I have enjoyed using.

 

Here are a few I want to add to my library, recommended by Bridget Elmer, the instructor at Ox-Bow.

These just look wonderful...must...have...them........

And here is Bridget Elmer's site, the instructor at Ox-Bow.
I saw both these books at Ox-Bow. They are beautiful. "We can go beyond it" is a fascinating, moving piece of art.

Old Books

I love books. I always have and always will.

I love the content, surely, but I am much more persnickety these days. I cannot tolerate spending time and money on something not worth that time and money.

But...holding the thing. Especially Old Books. The texture and color of the cover and spine. The feel of the paper. The color of the paper. Old Books.

I love Old Books. I enjoy seeing what previous owners wrote on them. I like the idea that the book has a history with another human being, who, for the older books, are no longer with us.

How did that person receive the book: a gift? a purchase?
Why was this possession let go? Purging? moving? loss? death?

I love used bookstores. Walk into a good one, and the feeling in the very air is different. There's a certain weight in the atmosphere, and emanations from the books themselves.

Then there's the smell. Bliss.

And now we know why that smell is blissful: lignan.

Lignin, the stuff that prevents all trees from adopting the weeping habit, is a polymer made up of units that are closely related to vanillin.

via the Green Apple Core.

Bookbinding

For this summer's vacation (yes, actually taking one this year!) I gifted myself with a bookmaking class. I have loved books since I first laid eyes on one when I was a very young child.

Here's an interesting video about traditional bookmaking, courtesy of the Science Channel.

Trevor Lloyd is a professional bookbinder. This vid is a short autobiography of his career.

This is a beautifully meditative showcase of medieval illumination. Enjoy: