It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that moving to the Netherlands has changed my life. I've been teaching bookbinding and making books for years, but this year was the first (and the second) time I participated in a proper bookbinding fair.
Several weeks ago AbeBooks (owned by Amazon since 2008) announced to vendors from the Czech Republic, Hungary, South Korea, and Russia they wouldn't be welcome on this book selling platform starting the end of November
Went to Haarlem today for the annual book market - Boeken in de Bavo. The market itself is quite nice, 75 sellers (or something like that), quite a diverse choice of books. But what's makes this fair really special is the astonishing location!
After I visited the Bookbinders' Fair in Belgium this April, it was logical to attend an event made by the same people in Cologne, Germany. Bookbinders' Fair Cologne is smaller, but it doesn't mean it is less fun!
Ken Sanders tells his story of becoming a book detective while being a rare books seller for most of his life. One time he had to chase a book thief for three years to prepare the final sting and put him to jail.
Designing and updating the old designs of the tools and jigs I sell at our Etsy shop is a constant process that never ends. At every moment I have two or three new things in development, but I never forget about the older items.
Here is the last digitized book of October. It's much smaller, and I wasn't initially considering it to be scanned at all. First, we already have it in our Book Collection; second, it is available at the Smithsonian Libraries digital archive.
Spent yesterday's evening sorting the books about books I bought since moving to the Netherlands. It starts to look like an obsession. However, it's hard to stop when you have book markets like the one in the Hague just a half-hour ride away.
Every once in a while the Museum Meermanno in the Hague (The Netherlands) brings a new temporary exhibition. This time they show the works of Quentin Blake, an artist, who had illustrated multiple books, including stories by the world-famous author Roald Dahl.
Not about books at all. Just wanted to share the process of making this iBookBinding pumpkin. My first experience with carving ever. I decided to cheat a bit, so I used my projector to create a pattern that wouldn't be distorted by the curvature of the pumpkin.
This week's scanned book is the third volume of the catalog of the library of René Descamps-Scrive. Last week I posted some excerpts from the first two volumes of the same catalog.
While walking along the stalls at the book market in the Hague, I often find old diaries. I never thought I would have any use for any of them before I found this red hardcover journal.
Berlin Typography blog has launched a series of publications about umlauts this summer. They posted the third part just a few days ago. Now the collection may be considered complete (at least for the time being.)
Ross MacDonald has led a secret double life for many years. While he was writing humor pieces and making illustrations for periodicals, he was also making paper-related props for over 40 movies.
Just received my new member's welcoming package from the Stichting Handboekbinden - bookbinding guild of the Netherlands. I love every piece of it. In that small envelope, there are materials to make a small accordion book. And look at this small bonefolder!
