futureofthebook.com

wet pate

Joyce and I had our portrait taken as a quarter-plate tintype by an expert wet plate photographer, Haven Noble of Mt. Pleasant. Like the Daugerrotype it is an in-camera mirror image. Sam Clemens first portrait on the river front in Hannibal was the same mirror image. He understood this and set is name in display type knowing the name would appear read-right.

Less apparent is Sam’s left-handedness. All compositors use the left hand to hold the stick, both right and left handed. But Sam defied rules. He is holding the stick in his right (appearing to be left) hand and was picking type with his left. Note also his finger ring. Due to slight asymmetry of the face, reversing this image reveals the smirk.

repackaging

“The Queen Victoria’s Journals website is mobile-compliant and can be viewed from all iPhones, Blackberry and Android phones.” (from TeleRead)

An interesting aspect of the writing on the wall is the wall or the delivery unit. In the early centuries works of scripture were selected and deselected to compile a canonic Bible. The selected units were then subdivided into chapters by the thirteenth century and the chapters subdivided into verses in the sixteenth century.

Today congregations, lacking Bibles in hand, view “sermon bullet points in PowerPoint”. (see Christianity and the Future of the Book) Over the altar a phosphor screen produces a vision of floating scripture fragments not that dissimilar from bits of papyrus. A side effect could easily be the repackaging of the Holy Ghost if not of Others.

Librarians are aware that such repackaging of delivery units is of consequence to culture transmission. Now is the time for them to mention this. Librarians are not preferential of any particular delivery unit but they are capable of advocating for continuing utilization of them all; both books and bullet points, print and screen together. They can even risk avocation of the interdependence of multiple delivery units as necessary for responsible culture transmission. Consider it a plan of action.

the center shifts

“Tim Barrett has been appointed Associate Professor with tenure; his appointment is housed in the School of Library and Information Science but his teaching, art/research, and service are entirely in the UICB. Julie Leonard has been appointed Associate Professor on the tenure-track; her appointment is likewise housed in SLIS but with teaching, art/research, and service entirely in the UICB. Bruce Whiteman, retired Head Librarian of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library in Los Angeles and a regular instructor in the California Rare Book School, will be appointed as an adjunct in the UICB, teaching Descriptive Bibliography (and potentially other courses) for us, starting Spring 2013. The Center remains autonomous, with all administrative oversight staying as is (in other words, we are not a subset of SLIS). Bruce brings new content to the curriculum and years of experience that dovetails well with our mission.” (from memo to Faculty)

FotB has been a fan of close coordination between the library school and the University of Iowa Center for the Book. The initial SLIS/UICB joint program was designed by Christine Pawley and is now advanced by Center Director Mat Brown.

starch book cloth

Over-covering 18th c. paper bindings with leather is mentioned by Nicholas Pickwoad. Another possible over-covering could be present with 18th c. canvas covers. The first entry in a manuscript recipe book of Herbert Beaver, July 14, 1765 is for “Clear Starching for Book Muslin”. The method, without blueing or coloring, explains the natural muslin tow color of these early cloth bindings. (from Szathmary Culinary Manuscripts)

This entry was posted on Monday, May 28th, 2012 at 7:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.