{"id":199330,"date":"2025-10-09T04:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T04:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/199330\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T04:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T04:59:08","slug":"john-carter-brown-library-exhibit-examines-bookbindings-roots-in-the-natural-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/199330\/","title":{"rendered":"John Carter Brown Library exhibit examines bookbinding\u2019s roots in the natural world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Walking through the John Carter Brown Library\u2019s massive wooden doors, visitors may overlook the tiny, unassuming room that sits just inside the entrance. Taking a step in yields the scent of old books.<\/p>\n

Nestled in the room is \u201cElemental: Crafting Books From Nature,\u201d an exhibition that takes guests on a journey through the complex history of bookmaking, featuring books from the 15th to 18th centuries. The exhibition, which is open through December, is curated by Jos\u00e9 Montelongo, the library\u2019s curator of Latin American books.<\/p>\n

According to Montelongo, the books on display are infused with \u201celements of the mineral world, the world of plants and the animal kingdom.\u201d On perusing the display cases and their respective plaques, visitors\u2019 attention may be drawn to the varying textures and colorful accents adorning the books, as well as the goat, calf and sheep skin that bind them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"embed <\/p>\n

\n Montelongo told the story of John Carter Brown\u2019s son, who took a Dutch poem to a Parisian binder to have the leather stamped with patterns and gold flourishes.
\nCourtesy of Rythum Vinoben\n <\/p>\n

Making parchment from animal hides was once the \u201cmost economic\u201d way of binding a book, Montelongo told The Herald. Typically, the animal skins \u201cwould be de-haired and degreased\u201d with a curved knife before later being treated with lime, he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But other bookbinders preferred a more ornate approach. Pointing to a red leather book adorned with intricate gold detailing, Montelongo told the story of John Carter Brown\u2019s son, who took a Dutch poem to a Parisian binder to have the leather stamped with patterns and gold flourishes.<\/p>\n

Each book is accompanied by a detailed history of its making. \u201cMargarita Philosophica,\u201d a tome designed for young liberal arts scholars of the 16th century, is bound with strips of varying woods of unique colors and textures, a patchwork that Montelongo said most likely resulted from damage due to early libraries\u2019 humidity, termites and \u201cearly intervention by a conservator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"embed <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMargarita Philosophica,\u201d a tome designed for young liberal arts scholars of the 16th century, is bound with strips of varying woods of unique colors and textures, a patchwork that Montelongo said most likely resulted from damage due to early libraries\u2019 humidity, termites and \u201cearly intervention by a conservator.\u201d
\nCourtesy of Rythum Vinoben\n <\/p>\n

Montelongo highlighted a large image on the wall depicting a prototypical printing office from the early 16th century. The image illustrates the messiness of the book-making process, with paper and inking pads strewn across the floor. Montelongo called it \u201cthe kitchen of bookmaking, not the bookstore.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the image, the office owner\u2019s daughter is holding the printing type \u2014 or, as Montelongo puts it, \u201cthe elemental particle of bookmaking.\u201d He described how the girl in the picture would take the movable type, made of an alloy of lead antimony and tin, and arrange an entire page \u201cin the metallic state\u201d before placing it on the printing press.<\/p>\n

One of the books, however, isn\u2019t bound at all. Montelongo noted the item\u2019s \u201crare survival.\u201d On the paper\u2019s uneven surface, visitors can see the imprint of type from the other side of the page, a testament to \u201cthe force that (the bookmaker) is exerting,\u201d Montelongo explained.<\/p>\n

\"embed <\/p>\n

\n Some books, including one adorned with John Carter Brown\u2019s own initials, were personalized.
\nCourtesy of Rythum Vinoben\n <\/p>\n

He detailed the arduous process that went into making this paper by hand, calling it a \u201crecycling enterprise.\u201d Papermaking mills would repeatedly wash linen rags until the fibers became a pulp. Afterwards, they would separate the rags into smaller pieces using the force from running water before beating and molding them into a single sheet.<\/p>\n

Some books, including one adorned with John Carter Brown\u2019s own initials, are personalized. The exhibit\u2019s themes of natural materials are echoed in the wooden and metal tools required to make these modifications.<\/p>\n

Montelongo encouraged visitors to draw comparisons to their own book collections and recall how pages are worn through use and age. \u201cThe pages have been read, and it doesn\u2019t stay the same, much less after centuries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n Get The Herald delivered to your inbox daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walking through the John Carter Brown Library\u2019s massive wooden doors, visitors may overlook the tiny, unassuming room that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":["post-199330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}