Save the Date for a Grolier Club Exhibition "The Art of Books That Aren't"

Book padlock, German or French. Late 19th or early 20th century.
This is the only book lock I have seen in all the years of collecting, have you seen others? Fortunately it does still have its key.  

Save the date for the first exhibition of my book object collection, titled The Art of Books That Aren't: January 28 through March 12, 2016. Note that this is next year, but work has begun. I've been busy rounding out the collection, writing labels, conserving the objects and photographing them. My goal is to have a catalog and I will be writing to you later about it when it has taken shape. There will also be a special event (panel or symposium), in addition to a curator chat(s). If you are interested in planning events or workshops relating to this exhibition or in publishing an announcement of it, please let me know.

Someone made this tiny Bible box for Geneva LaToer in 1853, when she was 10 years old. The box pivots out from one corner and I'd say it was backwards, as the cross only appears on the back of the box. It's rare to find these humble folk art boxes with inscrptions. There are many book objects made for children and many specifically employed in educating them in the Bible. There will be others in the exhibition. See this earlier post.

Support has been coming in many ways even before asking, so that's reassuring. I've received several wonderful donations of objects, a little donation of funds from a friend and an offer from Roni Gross to design the catalog. My photographer friends at the Met are training me to take better photographs, Stan Pinkwas contributed the title of the exhibition, my neighbor Pamela Morin drove all of my blooks to NYC from upstate, Aaron Salik at Talas has offered to provide refreshments at a special event and young magician Francis Karagodins will work on learning how to perform the book magic props! It will definitely take a village to get the blooks exhibit and events to fruition, so THANK YOU to all of you who have supported me now, in the past and into the future. It's not a simple thing to present and legitimize this wonderful subject, but we will have fun doing it.

Note: Many others have generously contributed in so many ways. Everyone will be thanked on the Blook Club page of this blog in upcoming weeks.



Guest Post: Spruce Boxes from Bruce and Lynn Heckman

Bruce and Lynn Heckman



This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of visiting Bruce and Lynn Heckman to see their remarkable collection of over 1,000 unique, folk art book objects. This is certainly the largest collection of its kind, certainly larger than mine which is only a little over 500. I was expecting to see a substantial collection of unique objects, but I was amazed by the breath and beauty of the collection, the extended show-and-tell viewing and the enthusiastic reception that Lynn and Bruce gave me. I’m not sure I have yet digested what I have seen, but I don’t think I will ever forget the wonderful, inspiring day I had with them. I think I'll make another post later to show a few of the blooks I took photos of that particularly interested me.

One of many shelves of book-boxes in the Heckman's collection

Lynn and Bruce collect as a team and the joy they share in collecting is reflected in the picture of them holding a large book box. They collect many types of book objects, but the largest single category, from a media perspective, is that of  carved wooden boxes with various functions, made during the 18th through 20th centuries. Sewing boxes, puzzle boxes, snake boxes, love-gift boxes, solid carved books, Civil War lancet boxes, banks and safes were all represented; however, the most prominent group within the wooden boxes were the charming American and Canadian spruce gum boxes. Bruce and Lynn provided this post for us so that we can learn more about the history of the spruce gum book box:

Spruce Gum Boxes in the Form of Books

by Bruce and Lynn Heckman

Spruce gum boxes are manifestations of the same impulses that drive the creation of much Folk Art:  Love, moral fervor, whimsy, loneliness due to isolation, and an excessive availability of time. The chewing of gum has been going on for 5000 years, since Neolithic times.  Spruce gum was excreted by trees in the North Woods of Canada and the U.S. and harvested by lumbermen to put in boxes to bring home to loved ones for their chewing  enjoyment. Carving of the boxes spans the 1870's to the 1920's, though some modern examples exist. Modern boxes have a lack of patina that cries out to you after you've handled enough boxes.  We think that some boxes with patriotic were produced for the American Centennial of 1876.

Books were the models for almost all spruce gum boxes, though many were made in the form of a barrel. Bookishness is not normally associated with the lumbermen of the North Woods, but the book icon was widely adapted.  The book-shaped boxes appeal from the tactile, visual, and historical points of view.  Most fit nicely in the hand and were about five inches tall, although some are as small as two and one-half inches and as tall as thirteen inches. Carving varies from the simple to the very intricate. Paint and stains are used, as well as photographs, applied hearts, mirrors, found objects, and colored beeswax. Some boxes have the names of people and places, dates, and sentimental expressions.

Time was abundant in the North Woods and, after a day of felling trees, the nights were occupied with box carving.  The design was made, the piece of wood hollowed out from both ends, and slides were made for the top and bottom.  The decoration was carved and applied and the boxes sealed with shellac.  The heart was the most common decoration and signifies that these objects were created for loved ones at home.  Extensive chip carving was used.  Anchors, ropes, stars, crosses, tree of life, and geometric shapes were incised or applied.

We have been collecting spruce gum boxes since July 1989. Since then, our collection has grown to approximately one hundred boxes. These are part of a much larger collection of 'blooks' spanning three centuries and many countries. The spruce gum boxes appeal to us for their artistic, sentimental, and historical aspects.  We have enjoyed the collecting hunt and sharing our collection with interested collectors.

_______

Maine State Museum Collection

If readers would like to see and learn more about spruce boxes, the Maine State Museum has very good images and descriptions of the boxes on their online website.

Click here to read an article about spruce gum from Northern Woodlands Magazine.  

Ian Berke recently sent this picture of three source gum boxes he recently saw at the
Maine State Museum.

The Strangest Blooks, Relics of Amercian History

While we are on the subject of sweet-smelling blooks, I thought I'd write a short post about one of the most peculiar genres of blooks I'm aware of -- book soap. The soaps shown below are the only commercially produced book soaps I have seen, but I hope that you will correct me if I'm wrong. Both of the book soaps depicted below are from the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, Michigan. The 'book' in Book Cadillac stands for the name of the three Book Brothers, who were the original developers of the hotel. I know that souvenir hotel soap collecting is a traditional pastime and I'm so happy that someone decided to save these sadly deteriorated examples for us to enjoy (or be a bit turned off by).

Bar of Ivory Soap

Book Cadillac Hotel, Detroit Michigan

American, after 1924

6.3 x 3.7 x 1.2 cm (2.5 x 1.5 x .5 in)
Dubansky Collection

Sterns’ Bay Dreams Soap (Savon Superfin) in paper wrapper

Book Cadillac Hotel, Detroit Michigan (made in Paris)

American, after 1924

 5.7 x 3.3 x 1.5 cm (2.2 x 1.3 x .6 in)

Dubansky Collection

Here is a description about the Book Cadillac Hotel from its current website:

Located at the corner of State Street and Detroit's Washington Boulevard, once dubbed the Fifth Avenue of the Midwest, the hotel first opened in 1924 as the tallest hotel in the world with 33 floors and 1,136 guestrooms. Presidents, entertainers, major sports celebrities like Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, and many other notables were guests of Book Cadillac.

Designed in the Italian Renaissance style by architect Louis Kamper, the ‘Book' was the top hotel in Detroit for several years hosting conventions, weddings, and many high society social events. The hotel played a role in the 1948 film State of the Union starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Angela Lansbury - it was room "2419" where Presidential hopeful, Grant Matthews (Tracy), readied for his speech to Detroit's business leaders. A nighttime image of the hotel's marquee is seen in the movie.

The hotel went in a downward tailspin when America was in its economic dilemma in the late 1920s and 1930s. New ownership pumped up the property and the Book Cadillac continued to flourish through the 1940s and early 1960s. However the grand lady of Washington Boulevard fell on hard times again and struggled through ownership changes and was re-flagged a Sheraton and later a Radisson, until the doors closed in 1984 and the hotel was liquidated in 1986...

This is making me want to send out a challenge for a blook soap-carving contest, let me know if you are inspired to make one.

Guest Post: A Proud Blook Owner, David Prowler on Saul Steinberg

As you can imagine, I was thrilled to have my blook collection written up in the NY Times yesterday. One of the pleasant outcomes has been hearing from readers about their special book objects. David Prowler sent this guest post on his one and only book object that is also a work of art by Saul Steinberg:

I’ve only got one blook but if my apartment caught fire I’d grab it. I came across it in an auction catalogue called ”Fine Modern Literature, Sale 341, September 28, 2006”.  It was a little bit after “Stein, Gertrude, Lot of six titles”, in between “Steinbeck, John Lot of 8 volumes” and “Stevenson, Robert Louis, Island Nights’ Entertainments”.  But it’s not literature or even a book.  It’s:

Steinberg, Saul

1977

Description:

Wooden mock book, designed and illustrated by artist Saul Steinberg. 8x5½" & (¾" thick), with hand-coloring (white, black and tan), carved ruling, carved imitation page edges colored white, penciled “ST. 1977” in white box on front center, oval black ink vignette drawing / emblem below. Inscribed in pencil “For Jane, Happy Birthday and love, Saul St., March 1977.”

Condition: Impressions and rubbing, other light wear, still near fine.

I’m a big fan of Saul Steinberg, even wrote on my blog about him:  http://davidprowler.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/saul-steinberg-dottore-in-architettura/.

I’ve got books (signed and unsigned) and posters (signed and unsigned). I’ve got books in English, German, French, Spanish, and Czech.  There’s one out there in Japanese I should have bought when I had the chance.  It never occurred to me that I could own a unique original Steinberg, much less a sculpture, a blook.  But because it was sold in a book context rather than an art context, there wasn’t much bidding.  And now it is in a Plexiglas frame I made, sitting on my dresser.  

Thank you David!

I hope to hear from more of you soon.

The Care and Feeding of Books, 1947

The last post featured a first-aid kit for an automobile. Here is a first-aid kit of another kind,  one for books. The Care and Feeding of Books is one of many commercial book repair kits made over the years. I'm sure you wouldn't have any trouble finding a similar new kit today. This type of kit will send chills up the spine of any book conservator because we never would want to see any of these materials in contact with books, but still it has historic interest. If you ever need a book repaired, you should call a conservator. Maybe later I will show you pictures of the (often maddening and occasionally rather amusing) destructive home book repairs that I have spent hours correcting and sometimes collect for teaching purposes. 

This octavo blook is of particular interest becasue of its bookish aesthetic and use of real bookbinding materials. Unlike other kits I have seen that are in paper boxes printed to look like books, this one could really fool you. It is a gold-tooled, quarter-sheepskin binding with plain-weave bookcloth sides. There is no maker's name on the box. Perhaps the Leather Vita company whose name is on some of the contents may have produced it -- or it could have been the brainchild of a bookbinder. The box certainly must have been manufactured in a hand bindery of some kind.

This copy of The Care and Feeding of Books is full of its original contents. They are shown below, with the exception of the book repair instruction book. The box includes a Leather Vita book entitled The Care & Feeding of Books (1944), Leather Vita leather softener, Carter’s Rytoff ink remover, a Dixon pink eraser, Dennison Transparent Mending Tape, Sanford’s Liquid Glue, a yellow sponge, a piece of white flannel, a piece of dark red flannel, and a clear plastic letter opener (probably for slitting never-opened pages).



 

Book Repair Kit

The Care and Feeding of Books

American, c. 1944

21.5 x 16.5 x 5.3 cm (8.5 x 6.5 x 2.1 in)

(Dubansky Collection)

I was able to find an advertisement for an earlier repair kit in another binding variant, a fine leather binding. The ad copy indicates that the kit was specifically designed to stand between real books on a book shelf. Here it is in Popular Science, March 1942, Volume 40, Number 3,  page 71:

A Blook Club Feature: Long Life by Exide. The First First-Aid Kit for the Automobile

This is the first post of a Blook Club Feature. If you go to the Blook Club Page of this blog you will see a list of the people who have generously contributed to my collection. You too can be a member of the Club by donating blooks, published references, and scholarly input. I would also welcome your assistance in building the collection through financial contributions, should you be so generous to want to help. Each donated blook will recieve a Blook Club Feature Post. (I also hope to do this retrospecively in order to thank everyone who has contributed to date).

Here is an example of a very interesting object that was given to me by Tom Bodkin. I don't know the circumstances in which he found it but I'm very happy that he did. Upon acquisition, I conducted a bit of research and discovered its surprising historical significance. It is the first first-aid kit produced specifically for the automobile! It's had a hard life and is a little beat up, but fortunately all of its contents and design elements still exist. 

Photograph by Richard Minsky

Photograph by Richard Minsky

The Exide First Aid Case. Long Life by Exide; with a quote by Charles Dickens
Exide Battery Corp.
English, c. 1937
Tin, cloth, gold foil, miscellaneous first aid materials
20.8 x 13.3 x 4.7 cm (8.2 x 5.2 x 1.9 in)

This copy is very water damaged, but one can still see that the binding is covered in brown pebble and morocco grain bookcloths, and it is stamped in gold on the spine with Long Life by Exide. On the front cover there is a Dickens quote: Grief never mended no broken bones and as good people’s wery scarce, make the most on ’em (from Sketches by Boz, 1836).

Here is the text from the original press release describing it. Reference: The World’s Carriers and Carrying Trades’ Review. Vol. XXXIV-No. 397; October 15, 1937. November 4, 1937, p. 110:

“Exide” First Aid Kits.

The Exide Press Luncheon held at the Clarendon Restaurant on October 14^th, was chosen by the Exide Company as the occasion on which to introduce a scheme to meet a motoring necessity which has long been neglected or overlooked.

With road casualty figures increasing annually—it is surprising that the percentage of cars carrying first aid kit could probably be put as low as one in a hundred. Hasty work on a roadside adjustment generally results in skinned knuckles or a cut hand which need immediate attention if dangerous conditions are to be averted, and for these reasons alone the kits are sure of an enthusiastic welcome by motorists.

     
We were impressed by the ingenious adaption of the famous Exide slogan, “Long Life,” printed on the spine of a “book” which opens and reveals the contents neatly and compactly arranged inside.

Distribution of the kits will be directed through the Exide organisation of 600 Service Agents, and it is hoped eventually to reach every motorist by means of the Company’s association with the retail motor trade.

Each kit contains one bottle of iodine, one bottle of smelling salts, one bottle of burn lotion, one bottle of sal volatile, one phial of aspirins, one pair of scissors, one roll of adhesive plaster, one packet of gauze, three rolls of bandage (1 in., 2 ins. and 3 ins.), one packet of cotton wool, one packet of surgeon’s lint, twelve safety pins in a box, one tin of pure white Vaseline, one pair of tweezers; and a scheme is in operation which enables the Company to sell the kits at 3/6 each.

Exide aims at a “first-aid kit for every car,” and they are to be congratulated on their initiative in being the first concern intimately associated with the motoring industry to sponsor a plan which meets an urgent need.

An aside: I can't believe we have to put up with those unattractive plastic first-aid cases, why can't we have bookish first aid kits these days? It will probably show up soon as another Project Page. If you make one, please send a picture.

Project: Faux Bookshelves of Elegant and Scary Varieties

In addition to regular posts, I would like to have guest posts and also the occasional blook how-to project. I'll make an attempt to inspire you with a couple of faux bookshelf projects, including my favorite, the haunted bookshelf. 

You know, when you search the Internet for the term 'faux books' the objects that show up are not at all the common items from daily life, like most of the items I own. They are quite fru-fru and there are lots of gold-tooled leather bindings. Faux books are certainly a blook category in themselves. They are the types of items interior decorators might place in a den or library to impart an air of culture. A number of manufacturers and binderies make book walls and panels for book walls as shown in this video, but bookbinders, artists and crafters could easily make their own personal blook libraries. If you are in New York City and go to Scully&Scully on Park Avenue, you'll see them in every imaginable configuration. 

Here is a YouTube video about turning regular door into a book wall. You could apply the same principle to any cabinet door. Please don't cut the spines off of real books. You'll go to hell, really. (Well, actually I don't know if you will or not, but I told you I felt strongly about so-called altered books):

Over the last few years I've been expanding my collection of Halloween blook props. They are a recent addition because I never knew they existed. I play with them all year, but make a special attempt to put them out around the library during the Halloween season (yes, some consider it a season). Many of them are motion-activated and they tend to activate each other, that gets really wild and very noisy, too noisy for a library. I'll have to put a post up in October, but here is one I want to share now because you'll have to get started on it to have it ready for your haunted library or house. I haven't made one, but I would love to. I need to.

This is a three-part video on making your own haunted bookshelf. Every book-lover should probably have one. It uses real books, but you could easily substitute blooks made of wood, Styrofoam, cereal boxes, etc. Don't forget to look on YouTube for others, they are there. I just like the highbrow/lowbrow juxtaposition of the two videos.

I hope you enjoyed the first project post! Send pictures and descriptions, and/or add 

comments if you make something. We all want to see.

THE END

Blooks of Today: Hot Off the Press

My colleague asked me if I was going to write a post about new blooks so I'll show you a few now. Artists, manufacturers and everyday people are making as many blooks as ever. The most substantial change is in the area of art. So many artists are making book objects now and the blook is enjoying a revival. If one just cruised around online, it would be easy to find contemporary confections, home furnishings, fashion accessories, greeting cards, craft supplies, garden ornaments, computer accessories, home security items and more. There doesn't seem to be an end to it, that's what is so surprising. Here are only a few. I can't vouch for all of them, but did note when I have seen or used them:

Garden sculpture: At Terra Firma Landscape Architecture, sculptor Terrence Parker creates stone books in several sizes. Open the link for details.

Tableware: These are very elegant and amusing, don't you think? I found them sold wholesale, but managed to collaborate with a few friends from my library to buy a dozen platters, which work well for library parties. It would be nice to have a set. Perhaps blog readers could let me know if there is any interest. Wouldn't it be fun? 

Perfume: Don't forget about Karl Lagerfeld's perfume Paper Passion, because "the smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world."

PROJECT ALERT. Book Cards: When you want to make your own book cards, Dr. S V of Bangalore, India posted a pattern for these cards. I make them quite often for library events. They are easier than they look and are always appreciated. Click here for instructions.

Lumio Book Light: The Lumio light was created for those who might be on the go, or just in need of mood lighting. Designed by Industrial Designer Max Gunawan, the light is disguised as a book. It bends into a multitude of forms and can be anchored with strong magnets to metal surfaces. The light lasts 8 hours and is rechargeable. Lumio is about 1″ thick and it is available in three wood finishes.

Many vendors sell home decorating objects that appear like antique books. Here is a trash can perfect for the home office or library. Here is the blurb form the webisite where I found it: 

Most office bins are horrible to look at. This one is different. It looks stunning, is beautifully made, and will instantly raise the tone of your office, lobby or boardroom. Yes, you can probably make do with a plastic bin, but how much more civilized to deposit even your scrap paper in this work of art!

A Kindle case: If you are looking for a new case, I noticed there was a sale  on this website in three bindings, including Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland. I haven't seen it in person, but here is the copy from the site: It will look as if you're reading an old hardcover copy of Bram Stoker's "Dracula." Tucked inside: your Kindle. Handmade in Hampshire, England using traditional bookbinding techniques and materials, each has a molded interior case that securely holds your e-reader. Lightweight, durable, splashproof, and satisfying. Specify Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Kindle Fire, or Kindle Keyboard.

Stress blooks: You can even buy stress ball blooks. Bryan Draper, Preservation Librarian at The University of Maryland, recently sent me two, printed with the U of M logo in different color variants. They apparently have a big bowl of them in the library. I'm not sure they are sending the right message, but I get a kick out of them. You can order customized titles for your library. Here is one vendor I found online, but I haven't purchased from them. I'd look around, there must be more.

That's just a drop in the bucket of what's out there in blook-land and that doesn't include altered books, which I try to avoid (don't get me started). Please post comments with questions and additions to the new blook category. 

Whitman's Library Package (and I don't mean Walt)

The book format has been internationally popular as a novelty container for many types of candy since at least the late 20th century and probably earlier. One of my favorites is the Whitman's Library Package. In this ad dated 1922, it is referred to by the unfortunate term 'Oddity'. While there are many book-like candy boxes, not many follow through with the theme, as this one does, by providing a Table of Contents and a publisher's list of other titles. The Whitman's Library Package is bound in paper, printed to emulate a full-leather (goatskin) binding with gold tooling. I don't believe it was issued in other binding variants.  

I look forward to showing you other candy blooks in the future, but while we are on the subject I thought that you might enjoy this excerpt from a post that I found today on a site entitled Candy Professor:

...High-quality candy novelties were much more important in the early days of the candy industry. Success in the candy business hinged on moving quickly to introduce new kinds of candy and new novelties to catch the eye of child or adult shopper. Higher priced candy was often bought as a gift, and clever or eye catching presentations would increase a gift’s value. For children’s candies, the novelty could transform a simple candy into something much more appealing.

These candy dolls from the 1920s were manufactured by Huyler’s, a large confectioner better known for quality chocolates. Although these goods are for children, they would have been sold at higher-priced shops and department stores alongside Huyler’s chocolate goods and similar candies. Each was made by hand. These candy dolls appear primitive to the modern eye, but must have been charming and appealing to a child in the 1920s...

...Here is Simple Simon, fashioned of candy sticks, with his chocolate pies.  The book motif is cleverly carried through from the shape of the box to the hand-written rhyme, with the figures and candies playing out the theme.

In the Simple Simon package, the Huyler’s name is featured prominently. The transformation of candy box into part of a toy novelty assures that the manufacturer’s name stays in the child’s mind. The novelties are not only for children’s delight, but also to build business:

The children of today are the candy buyers of the future. [These novelties] give the manufacturer a chance to get first place in the child’s affections.

Source: Edward T. Tandy, “Place of Novelties in Merchandising,” Confectioners Journal April 1921 (Printers Ink March 1921)