New Lectures: "BLOOKS for the Masses: Fantasy and Invention in Book Objects" and "The Art of Books That Aren't: A Survey of Historic Book Objects"

All proceeds from these lectures will go towards the publication of an exhibition catalog for The Art of Books That Aren't. Grolier Club, January 28-March 14, 2016.  Please contact me if would like to plan a lecture for your class or group or if you are able to make a donation towards the exhibition, the catalog and its programs (mindelldubansky@gmail.com):

Blooks for the Masses: Fantasy and Invention in Book Objects

Blooks for the Massesis a chronological romp through the evolution of American patented book-objects, designed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It will feature approximately fifty patents for practical and fanciful book objects of all kinds. In addition to patent drawings, Ms. Dubansky will discuss the objects’details as they relate to book culture and illustrate real objects that were produced from, or closely resemble, those produced from the patents.

 

The objects in the talk date from the 1860s to the 2010s. They elucidate how book objects were integrated into popular culture and how the commercial sector has developed the book form to add interest, function and market value to every-day objects. Items in this presentation are wide-ranging and include examples of objects made for the home, office, school and beyond. Shown here is a patent for a lunch-box (1875; patent 170,441) and Noonday Exercise, an unattributed toleware lunch box of a similar style and date.

 

 

The Art of Books That Aren't: A Survey of Book Objects

 

If you aren't able to come to my blook exhibition at the Grolier Club exhibition next year, but wish you could, this is the lecture for you. It is a thematic romp through the history of book objects made from the eighteenth century through today. This presentation will describe a wide variety of handmade and manufactured book objects and place them in historic context through discussing their inventors, marketing history and use -- and showing many beautiful images of book objects. This lecture can be shaped to address the specific needs of a particular audience, if requested. 



Hand warmer or flask. First half of the 18th century. British. Tin-enameled earthenware. Metroplitan Museum of Art, 37.123.3