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:

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)