Reference & Bibliographies

• Book_Arts-L FAQ and Archive
• Bibliographies: Includes bookbinding manuals (with tables of contents), conservation & preservation articles, marbling, typography, paper arts.
• Tutorials: Instructions for a wide range of book art related structures and glossaries.
• Conservation & Preservation Links: resources on book repair, collections conservation, preservation administration, digitization, and conservation vendors.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

The Multi-lingual Bookbinding/Conservation Dictionary Project: The goal of this project is to combine, in one place, all the known bookbinding and book conservation terminology, in as many languages as possible. We are also including both current and archaic terms, to make the dictionary useful for both practicing conservators and bookbinders, as well as book history scholars.

• ABC for Book Collectors by John Carter & Nicolas Barker, 8th ed. (At ILAB)
• Conservation OnLine (CoOL): The mother of all conservation and preservation sites.
• Binde ABC: German language dictionary of bookbinding terminology.
• The Book an interactive description: Javascript enabled description of the parts of a (German) case binding, but works for almost all other kinds as well. Thank you to Peter Baumgartner for letting me use his illustration and script.
• Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: THE English language encylopedic dictionary for bookbinding and conservation (At CoOL)
• Bookbinding/Reliure: From Diderot's encyclopedia.
  • See also Three Edges Gilt: The University of Chicago put online the entire French text of the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (affectionately known as the Diderot Encyclopedia) and the University of Michigan is coordinating efforts to translate the thing. Here are new and in-progress translations of the bookbinding articles, plus eventually other related ones. Feedback, especially from bookbinders & native French speakers, would be most welcome.
• Bookbinding Vocabulary / Vocabulaire de la Reliure: French / English bookbinding terminology by ARA Canada
• Buchbinder-ABC: Online version of Moessner's German-language encyclopedia of bookbinding terminology (1981 ed.). Presented online by Schmedt.
• Druck ABC (Printing ABC): Printing, typo/reprographic, binding glossary. In German.
• Glossary of Binding Terms: from the Preservation Department at the University of Florida.
• Illustrated Guide to Book Terminology: Produced by the Conservation Center for Art and Historical Artifacts, Part one of this article will guide you through the specialized terms used to describe book structure. Part two will do the same for terms used in book conservation.
• Kleines Glossar Typographie und Layout im Desktop-Publishing: Glossary in German.
• Translation of Book Arts Terms, from English to French: From the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists website.

Other Readings

• Definition of the Artist's Book: Transcript of a discussion held on Book_Arts-L in 1998. Topics included: Definition of the Artist's Book; What is a Book; BSO's (Book Shaped Objects); Art vs. Craft.
• The Future of Hand Bookbinding: By Sam Ellenport.
• Der Pressbengel / The Bone Folder: Dialog between a bibliophile and bookbinder written in 1922 by Ernst Collin. Available are the full-text of the German original as well as the full-text, a downloadable edition in signatures, and a Lulu POD edition. This translation originall appeared in the 2009 edition of the Guild of Book Workers Journal, 2009.
• The Philobiblon of Richard De Bury: The first book about the meaning, care, and handling of books.
• The Virtual Codex from Page Space to E-space: A lecture by Johanna Drucker to the Syracuse University History of the Book Seminar.
• Why Book Art Matters: An article by Kathy Walkup, Director of the Book Arts Program at Mills College.
• The Whatness of Bookness: Letter by Philip Smith on definition of the book.
• Is It A Book?: A page on nonlinearity in literature and the book arts by Karen Drayne (a.k.a. Powell), Barbara Davison, and Emily-Jane Dawson.
• Getting us out / Bringing us together: How listservs and the Web have changed the way in which book artists work and communicate. Presented at "Hot Type in a Cold World," a symposium celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Silver Buckle Press at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. November 20, 1998.
• Development of the Artist's Book.
• Catalogue of Artist's Books: List of small press and artist's books for sale. No longer maintained.