Month: November 2009

That Old Book Smell

smelly_book.jpgI once had a geology friend who, when we went hiking, would taste (well, actually lick) the rocks to identify them. Apparently you can do something similar with books — judge them by their odor. According to this article in Wired,

Just sniffing an old book can tell chemists a lot about the state of the paper in a vintage volume, including its level of acidity, lignin and rosin, which are all important variables for deciding how to approach preserving the text.

This next quote from the article caused me to stick my nose in a few volumes on my bookshelf — unfortunately the hint of vanilla was definitely missing, more noticeable was old sock.

“The aroma of an old book is familiar to every user of a traditional library. A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness, this unmistakable smell is as much part of the book as its contents. ” —Matija Strlic, et al, in Analytical Chemistry

Type Sculptures

d Deer by June CorleyJune Corley says this about the type scuptures she makes:

I started making the type sculptures in December 2006 after moving from Atlanta into the woods, mainly to get through the holidays and to possibly give as gifts. I had collected old signage letters and letterpress blocks for years, displaying them on a wall at my house in Atlanta. When unpacking the letters here, they got all jumbled up on the floor and I started looking at them differently. It seemed like the sculptures created themselves right before my eyes, all I had to do was figure out a way to put them together. I created a dozen in almost a week.”

You can see many more here

{via The Daily Heller}

Vandercook Centenary

vandercookmodel.jpgEarlier this fall, the Book Club of California had an exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Vandercook Universal, and my friend Cathy snagged me their commemorative keepsake — a papercraft Vandercook (see more pictures here, including the die used to make the model). I believe the model will also be included in the Fall Ampersand. There’s a similar design of an SP20 that you can download from Baltimore Print Studios.