mexico_modern_4_x_6_72_dpi.jpgModernism in Mexico got its start around 1910, fueled by insurrection and civil war that fell along both geographical and economic battle lines. By 1920, artists, journalists, and gallery owners began an exciting exchange of ideals and aesthetics with their counterparts in the United States, ushering in two decades of a dynamic cultural exchange.                                                              

On September 11, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin, is unveiling a new exhibit dedicated to this transfer of ideas entitled, Mexico Modern: Art, Commerce, and Cultural Exchange 1920-1945. Over two hundred items pulled from the Ransom Center archives highlight the importance of this border-crossing cultural transfer where indigenous traditions fused with modern sensibilities, proving that art and ideals know no boundries, especially political ones.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Also available will be copies of the book Mexico Modern, published in conjunction with the Museum of the City of New York which includes essays by the show's curators and examines leading figures in this artistic and cultural movement.

 

Mexico Modern: Art, Commerce, and Cultural Exchange 1920-1945 is on display through January 1, 2018. Admission is free.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   We at FB&C hope our readers in Harvey's path are safe and dry. If you're looking for ways to help, The New York Times ran this article on how to donate to Harvey victims while avoiding scammers.  

Hemingway - mockup(3).jpg"[E]very once in a while, an unknown cache of letters or an unknown manuscript will turn up in a basement, attic, or estate sale." That sentence, from a new novel called The Hemingway Files (Blank Slate Press, $15.95), seems written with me in mind. Of course, it wasn't, but those who enjoy a good biblio-yarn will be as pleased as I was to read a story that takes the 'manuscript hunting' trope into new territory. To summarize without spoiling: an English professor receives a mysterious package from a former student, Jack Springs, that contains a manuscript describing his post-grad teaching gig in Japan. Turns out Springs was hand-picked for the position by Professor Goto, an enigmatic man with deep pockets and a penchant for collecting "literary objects and artifacts," especially signed first editions, inscribed editions, and one particular trove of material legendarily lost in Paris in 1922. But suspicions arise on both sides and culminate in a natural disaster, the Kobe earthquake of 1995.

The author, H.K. Bush, knows whereof he speaks: Bush is a professor of English at Saint Louis University and formerly senior fellow at the Waseda Institute of Advanced Study in Tokyo. He has published several works of scholarly non-fiction on American authors. This is his first novel, though you wouldn't know it; The Hemingway Files is well plotted and engagingly written. A sinister undercurrent runs through it--manifest not only in the brawny henchmen that appear on doorsteps but in the psychological abuse Springs endures as a perpetual outsider.

The multi-layered tale plays out in letters and manuscripts, and sometimes in shared passages from favorite books. Brimming with literary trivia, it will surely delight those who believe that "anything can be anywhere," as Zach Jenks once said.      

Image courtesy of the author

Endpaper art is enjoying a renaissance of sorts. Back in 2012, Rebecca Barry profiled British professional marbler Jemma Lewis here on the FB blog, and after our recent story in the fall print issue about the revival of endpapers, we thought it was time to check back in with Lewis and see what she's been up to. We also heard from Julie Farquhar, the production manager at the Folio Society who produced the 2017 limited edition of H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories and which feature Lewis' endpapers, seen below.

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You've been credited with being at the vanguard of a rekindled love of marbled, handmade endpapers. What drew you to this profession?

                                                                                                                                                   Lewis: I studied Textile Art at Norwich school of Art & Design and have always had a love for color, surface pattern, and design. My progression to becoming a paper marbler was actually via local bookbinders where I worked for several years in the offices, before going to train with the lady who supplied us with marbled paper.

 

How do you approach a book project? Is there a desire to match the marbling in some way with the text?

                                                                                                                                                  Lewis: We love to take our inspiration from the book itself, whether that be the title, the illustrations, or a design that ties in with how the book is being bound. In the instance of The Call of the Cthulhu, the purple and green spots were inspired by the two-tone iridescent book cloth used in the casing. Coming up with bespoke designs is one of my favorite parts of the marbling process.

 

Why do you think there's a renewed fascination with endpaper decoration?

                                                                                                                                                      Lewis: In the 18th century, marbled papers were the endpaper of choice for beautiful fine bindings. The use of marbled papers has once again seen a resurgence as people appreciate the craftsmanship involved and the many wonderful variations marbling can offer. Marbling is a heritage craft, but the designs and color-ways are no longer restricted to the traditional designs and darker palettes. We use bright base papers, metallic paints, and a contemporary palette.

                                                                                                                                              Farquhar: Endpapers present a good opportunity for additional embellishment or illustration--a double page spread at the very start and end of the book which would otherwise be plain. They can be used to create a mood or a feeling for the entire book, be more specific to the text, or just be purely decorative and enhance the appeal of the overall book design.

                                                                                                                                                       I think people love marbled endpapers as it is all part of the current appeal for the hand-crafted way of producing beautiful bespoke items on a small scale. The colors and patterns feel quite different to conventionally printed endpapers.

 

Some endpapers are bolder and more expressive than the book jackets--why do you suppose that is?

                                                                                                                                                           Lewis: I think there is something very exciting about opening up what appears to be a fairly plain book and seeing colored marbled endpapers on the inside!

                                                                                                                                            Farquhar: I agree with Jemma. If you are binding with a certain type of cloth or leather and you want to show the natural texture or weave of the cloth or grain of the leather, then your binding design may be quite simple. Or, perhaps the content of the book may merit a simple, classic, perhaps typographic binding design. The endpapers at the very start and end of the book present a great opportunity for embellishment or convey a certain mood and atmosphere while providing an unexpected wow factor.

 

Check out the fall 2017 print issue of Fine Books & Collections Magazine for more on the endpaper renaissance, including a conversation with geometric endpaper enthusiast (and New Yorker illustrator) Bob Staake

For those wanting to channel Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, here's your chance to do it and raise much-needed funds for Chawton House, the manor house inherited by Austen's brother. In what amounts to a wet T-shirt contest, (male) participants can don a frilly white shirt, get soaked, and ... smolder. Don't forget to upload the image to social media and tag it #TheDarcyLook. The campaign is raising awareness for Chawton House, which is facing a budget shortfall of 65% in 2018.

House option 3 copy.jpgOur winter issue includes an article on Chawton House Library, a world-renowned research center for women's writing. The property also contains Austen family heirlooms and has become a tourist attraction. Jane did not live in the 'Great House,' at Chawton but in a cottage on the estate (now Jane Austen's House Museum). But next year's dire funding projections have required the launch of a large-scale fundraising campaign that aims to "secure the future of this important historic and literary landmark."

According to the fundraising website, "The reimagining of Jane's 'Great House' into a more recognised, commercially viable destination will help secure the house, the wider estate, and also our unique collection of early women's writing and books we know Jane Austen read in her brother's library."

At a time when Austen is as popular as ever, it's a wonder that an appeal is necessary at all, but with tight budgets on culture all around, it's clearly up to those of us who treasure history and literature to step in. Jane Austen campus, anyone!? 

Image courtesy of Chawton House Library

The HBO series Game of Thrones has fixated audiences for seven seasons by dangling the proposition of who will claim the Iron Throne. Will the Night King prevail and leave Westeros in ruins? With so many questions and fan theories percolating in the blogosphere, the folks at Texas A&M University may have answers stored in their archives. 

                                                                                                                                                                       

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Game of Thrones is based on the fantasy series A Song of Fire and Ice, written by George R.R. Martin, whose collection of papers, handwritten notes, manuscripts, and other documents are housed at A&M's Cushing Library. The author first visited the university in the 1970s as a participant of AggieCon, the school's annual student-run science-fiction and fantasy convention. Martin remembered the school's appreciation for sci-fi in1993 when he chose the Cushing Library's Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection as the repository for his personal collection of letters and other material. "When I was drowning in papers here, I thought of putting it all on deposit in a library somewhere. I remembered Texas A&M and the great facilities you have there," said Martin in 1993 to the Texas A&M Today. (See the newspaper's 2013 Q&A with Martin here.)


University Chancellor John Sharp recently encouraged students, faculty, and the general public to scour the Martin archives for clues as to how the series will end.
                                                                                                                                                                 "The papers and handwritten notes by George R.R. Martin possibly could contain clues about upcoming storylines, and anyone is welcome to search for themselves," Chancellor Sharp said. "Whether you're developing fan theories or just want to take the opportunity to see Martin's fantasy writing in its rawest form, A&M's library staff is happy to show off a true treasure of modern literature."


The library also put together this video about Martin's collection where Chancellor Sharp speaks with Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection curator Jeremy Brett about the collection's contents. 

                                                                                                                                             

Game of Thrones airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO. The season seven finale is August 27. 

As America once again turns toward its fraught history and confronts questions of inequality and racial injustice, I have been thinking about what role the rare book world plays in building and understanding history and what opportunities the rare book world has missed. These books are knowledge banks, and there is a supply line from rare book collectors directly to libraries, archives, universities, museums, and other institutions, but rare book collecting and dealing is still predominantly a white and male field, which means that the perspective of what is and isn't collectible is determined by an audience with typically similar interests, and therefore historically undervalues contributions by women and people of color.

                                                                                                                                                                         If the rare book world doesn't look forward, then it is only nostalgizing the past. I know from my own visits to book fairs, that the rare book world needs to be more diverse, and more socially responsible, and that, in turn, will expand and grow readership and business across all subject areas of collecting--this is a moment for collectors and institutions to ask what gaps in their own collections could be broadened. With that in mind, I thought I'd take the time to list a few socially minded book companies that are have a widened eye for a broader and more inclusive and therefore accurate look at American and world history and social movements. There's Lorne Bair Books, which specifically focuses on the art and history of social movements; Garrett Scott, Bookseller, who trades in uncommon ephemera and printed material; Division Leap, which focuses on small and indie press books, often punk and fringe; and Libriquarian, focusing on books about revolutionary, many with a focus on Latin America.

                                                                                                                                                                            This is just a short quick start, but over the coming months, I will be looking for more socially minded booksellers and adding them to my personal shopping list. Additionally, the ABAA has launched a new initiative to encourage women in the bookselling field to come together and discuss ways of opening up the field to more women and to attract more collectors as well. 

A trove of T.S. Eliot presentation copies, photographs, and ephemera goes to auction next month at Heritage Auctions, some sourced directly from the attic of the author's family. James Gannon, director of rare books at Heritage Auctions, uncovered the items during a recent thrilling visit.    

Eliot Album copy.jpg"I had one of those incredible experiences of going through the attic with Eliot's great-niece Priscilla Talcott Spahn (née Priscilla Stearns Talcott), who is the last living relative to have known and had a personal relationship with T.S. Eliot," said Gannon. "We looked through a lot of boxes of art and photographs in the attic, and books, and found one of the photo albums that is offered in this auction, among other things."

The photo album contains 169 candid shots of young T.S. and his family at home in Missouri and on vacation in various locations. Almost all are mounted in the album and captioned. According to the auction catalogue, "It is unlikely that these photos have appeared in print anywhere." The bidding starts at $500.

On that same visit, Eliot's relatives showed Gannon another treasure: a small square of linen featuring the embroidered image of a playful kitty cat made by none other than T.S. himself--when he was six. The unique item was also consigned to auction and is estimated to reach $1,000+.  

Bidding opens online this Friday and concludes in a live auction in Dallas (and online) on September 14.

Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions

Next week, Bates College graduate Nick Basbanes '65 revisits his old Maine stomping grounds to give a talk exploring the impact of paper on books and culture. Though not speaking at his alma mater, Basbanes will be 22 miles down the road, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Entitled, "On Materiality: A Cultural Consideration of Paper and the Book," the talk will use material gathered for Basbanes' 2013 book, On Paper: The Everything of Its 2000-Year Historyone of three finalists for the 2014 Carnegie Medal for Excellence. Expect a spirited commentary on the book as a material object, with particular emphasis on the 2000-year run of paper.

                                                                                                                                                  

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This free talk is in advance of Bowdoin's fall 2017 exhibition, "Bound and Determined: The Remarkable Physical History of the Book."                                    

                                                                                                                                                 Find Basbanes at the podium on Wednesday, August 30, at 4:30 p.m. in the Visual Arts Center at Kresge Auditorium. The talk will be followed by a reception on the second floor gallery of the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. Can't make it to Maine? The event will be live streamed at the following link: http://www.bowdoin.edu/live/


Stick around Brunswick through Thursday, August 31, when Bowdoin will host another paper-specific talk called, "Appreciating Paper: Art's Best Supporting Actor." Ruth Fine, former curator of special projects at the National Gallery of Art and Marjorie Shelley from the Metropolitan Museum of Art will explain how historic European artists chose their papers as well as the genesis of the importance of "works on paper." This free talk will be held in the Kresge Auditorium at 4:30 p.m.

If you've got your hands on a copy of our just-released fall issue, you'll note Catherine Batac Walder's article on Harry Potter's twentieth anniversary and Bloomsbury's new 'House-specific' anniversary editions of the book that started it all, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Walder interviewed illustrator Levi Pinfold about his inspiration and his artistic process. We're sharing here more from that interview.

CBW: How are these Harry Potter illustrations different/similar to the work that you usually do?

LP: Normally I don't work in line, so it was a pleasure to use some ink for a change.

CBW: Related to question 1, did you look at existing illustrations or did you try not to?

LP: I tried to stay away from existing material during the time I worked on the pictures. I found myself looking more to Albrecht Dürer etchings and other work from Renaissance artists for inspiration. I've since allowed myself to leaf through Jim Kay's amazing work on the major illustrated editions, though.

harry 3d visual_Revised (1) copy.jpgCBW: What difficulties had you encountered in finishing the drawings?

LP: Man's greatest enemy...time!

CBW: Did you read all the HP books before you got the job/were you a fan? Did you have to know the books very well for this job?

LP: I had read and enjoyed them beforehand, yes. I had also listened to the audiobooks some years ago whilst working. It was fantastic to re-familiarize myself with the books for the job. It definitely didn't feel like work!

CBW: What kind of research did you do before starting with the drawings? Any fascinating facts about coat of arms that you could share?

LP: The crests are based around traditional heraldic symbolism. Each element has a house specific meaning. For instance--a crescent moon means glory and splendor for Slytherin, or a beehive meaning hard work and industry for Hufflepuff. There are some great resources worth investigating on the Internet, if you like that sort of thing.

CBW: I know that as an artist you cannot really measure the time you work on an illustration as it depends on inspiration, but could you give an idea roughly how long it took to illustrate a cover, to redo it, etc.? What was your working day like?

LP: I was working under a tight deadline with the covers, so the days were long; anywhere between 10 and 18 hours. Most of the work took place at night because it was midsummer here in Australia and the days were just too hot! Generally each cover took around 3 days. Lots of variations and mistakes.

CBW: Would this be the most fun job you've ever had? I read your comment about it being a responsibility, will it be one of the hardest jobs as well?

LP: It was about as fun as illustration gets! The audiobooks were playing in the background and it was fascinating to immerse myself in the world and mythology. However, I have never worked on something with such a massive readership, so I have to admit that I found myself prey to a general hum of anxiety throughout the project.

CBW: I understand you also did the illustrations featured in the pages of the books?

LP: I did indeed. Inside and out. The house founders were particularly fun.

CBW: Will you be doing some more work for Harry Potter?

LP: Nothing at the moment, but I would certainly be keen for more.

CBW: How did you get the job and how has it changed your life/career so far?

LP: A combination of factors led to me getting the job, there are lots of people working behind the scenes. I still don't quite know how the decision was made. My agent, the art director and the rest of the team at Bloomsbury all had something to do with it. Other than that, pure luck!

Image courtesy of Bloomsbury

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                                                                                                                                               In 2011, French comic book artist Bastien Vivès wrote Polina, a graphic novel about a young Russian girl whose dreams of becoming a ballerina bring to her to the celebrated choreographer Professor Bojinksy. His tyrannical ways take Polina to the top of her profession, but not without consequences. Vivès's exploration of finding a balance between self-sacrifice and self-awareness for the sake of art was well-received in Europe, and has been adapted into a feature film starring Academy-Award winning actress Juliette Binoche and Mariinsky Theather-based Russian ballerina Anastasia Shevtsova

                                                                                                                                                                

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                                                                                                                                                      Screened at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, Polina makes its North American debut in New York on Friday, August 25 at the Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinema, followed by a national roll-out in September.                                                                                                                                                            

Directed by Valérie Müller and French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, Polina was shot on location in Russia, France, and Belgium. If the trailer is any indication, Polina will be an exquisite, tantalizing glipmse into the demanding world of professional dance. 


Polina. Running time: 112 minutes. Not rated. In Russian and French with English subtitles.