My Impressions of the Boekkunstbeurs 2019 in Leiden

This weekend was very tiring and intense. But these two days were among the most inspiring and wonderful working days of the year. All because I participated in the Book Arts Fair in Leiden (Netherlands.)

Boekkunstbeurs is an annual event organized by the Dutch bookbinding and printing guilds: Stichting Handboekbinden and Drukwerk in de Marge. We wrote about it not once, and you just can read some of our older posts. Below you’ll find some photos from this year. I cannot comment much on what was happening and who was present at the fair, as I was quite busy selling things and in the whole two days had only 30 minutes to walk around and chat with some of my acquaintances. And some of the discussions with colleagues and customers are already resulting in some new designs I’m going to test and show you soon!

Our table at the fair:

And the view around our table:

Walking around the church:

This amazing thing was made for us as a gift by someone from Buchbinderei Stenzel workshops. It’s just an enormous amount of work, don’t you think?

And here is our Book Scanning Frame Mark IV. Now it allows for making photos with larger cameras, not only smartphones. And there are some other significant updates as well, like the Plexiglas cradle that can be used separately as well. I forgot to take it with me on the first day but added to the other stuff on display on Sunday.

It attracted some attention from conservators and book collectors!

All in all, I’m delighted I joined the crowd last year and took part in the event for the second time now. I’m not sure where I’m going to be next year, but I hope that wouldn’t prevent me from coming to Leiden once again!

The next Fair is scheduled to happen on the 7th and 8th of November, 2020! Same place, same time!

Please Support us on Patreon!

The minimum level of contribution is only $1 per month. Pledges received from our patrons cover the editing services for our bookish podcast!

Moreover, starting with the pledge level of $3, you will get a digitized vintage book about bookbinding, book history, or book arts each month from us!

These pledges help iBookBinding to continue its work and bring more information about bookbinding and book arts to you!