photo: © philippe jasmin. english translation by kevin cohalan

Ph

oto

: ©

Ph

ilip

pe

Ja

smin

English translation by Kevin Cohalan

BOOKBINDING IN THE 21st CENTURY

The importance of the meaning of words, of history, of ideas and of bookbinding’s similarities to and differences from other art forms.

Developing bookbinding as a medium of artistic expression and conserving bindings as works of art.

HISTORY

The 21st century! Here at last! Some looked forward to it with apprehension; others wondered what the future would bring.

We’re caught up in a wave that’s carrying us towards new horizons. How can we transmit, from the past into the future, the culture of the book: the book inseparable from its cover, which protects and embellishes it?

Can we imagine bookbinding becoming widely recognized as a creative art form, and bindings being conserved just like other works of art?

Let’s take a brief look at the major steps in the history of the evolution of books and bookbinding.

WRITING

The history of writing begins somewhere between 9000 and 4000 B.C., when images were used to make “pictographs” or “pictograms”, representing the physical world, as well as “ideograms”, that is, symbols representing ideas.

Between 3000 and 2000 B.C., various materials — wood, stone, baked clay tablets, silk, etc. — were used to preserve and communicate written texts.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS

Papyrus rolls, characteristic of ancient Egypt, were replaced in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. by parchment, made from animal skins, named for the city of Pergamon in Asia Minor. Finally, paper was invented by the Chinese about 105 A.D. Its use gradually spread, following the Silk Route, and it appeared in the West towards the end of the

Middle Ages. Due to its low cost, it became the most-used medium for writing.

THE SCRIBE

The Egyptian scribe was a powerful figure. With the art of writing, history was born, placing events in chronological order. The invention of printing made the handwritten manuscript obsolete. The profession of scribe fell into disuse and virtually disappeared. A vestige remains today in the art of the calligrapher, but even calligraphy is threatened by computer science.

DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE BOOK

The folding book as developed by the Chinese, and the volumina or volumen, that is, the papyrus scroll, were predominant up until the arrival of the codex between the 2nd and 4th century A.D. The codex replaced the volumen. The book was no longer a continuous roll, but rather a set of leaves attached together at the back. This form is so efficient that, over 1500 years after it first appeared, it still remains that of the book as we know it today. When the codex originated, its pages, attached together, were protected by a sheet of parchment. This was how the book was bound.

THE BIRTH OF BOOKBINDING

But the art of bookbinding was really born in the monasteries of the 15th century, when manuscripts were adorned with massive and luxurious covers, destined for display on a tabletop or in the pulpit.

The end of the Middle Ages witnessed the arrival of printing and the widespread manufacture of paper, which had become the main material for writing. This is the moment when the techniques and materials of the craft of bookbinding, as we know it today, first appeared.

THE BIRTH OF BOOKBINDING

For four centuries, the history of bookbinding would be above all a history of styles and ideas and of the characteristics which were distinctive of this art and which brought it into relationship with others. There were cultural movements, fashions and trends influenced by the decorative arts, for example, or by the Industrial Revolution, which brought on changes from the time printing appeared and engraving techniques developed.

The French Revolution was a catalyst for radical innovations in style: bookbinding took on political meaning, with an egalitarian identity. Artifice and ostentation were replaced by an austere style of great simplicity.

THE BIRTH OF INDUSTRIAL BOOKBINDING

Industrial bookbinding started in Germany and quickly spread to the Anglo-Saxon nations. France resisted industrialization for a few decades. In the mid-19th century, the craft bookbinder was at the bottom of the hierarchy in the world of books, employed by the printers and booksellers.

As the Industrial Revolution progressed, inexpensive books were mass-produced and were no longer marketed in the form of stitched-together signatures, as had been the general practice, but rather in machine-made bindings. As a result, in many countries the traditional craft of hand bookbinding gradually disappeared.

THE BIRTH OF INDUSTRIAL BOOKBINDING

In 20th-century France, fine bookbinding and the binding of artbooks continue to be done by hand, often under the direction of a designer who coordinates the work of the bookbinder and that of the gilder who does the gold tooling.

Bibliophiles who collect rare books or limited editions of artists or painters want bookbinders to create unique bindings to enshrine their treasures. It seems that the bookbinder as a craftsperson is gradually being replaced by the bookbinder as an artist.

In 1981, I attended a symposium in Ghent, Belgium, organized by August Kulche, at which over 250 bookbinders from 14 countries were present.

I like to recall a question that was raised by Faith Shannon, one of the invited speakers. It influenced my own professional development. Ms. Shannon touched on a point that was often debated not only among bookbinders but also by collectors and aficionados who, looking at certain works, would say,

Faith Shannon remarked that only rarely had she heard the question,

THE LAST TWENTY YEARS OF THE MILLENIUM


The last twenty years of the millennium were fruitful ones thanks to initiatives on the part of associations of devoted bookbinders and booklovers who were passionate about their work. This period was also marked by the massive arrival of women into the profession, who were interested in bookbinding less as a handicraft than as a medium of artistic expression.

To me, this view of bookbinding as the creation of unique and inspired works represents a positive and legitimate perspective. A book bound with sensitivity and understanding takes on the rarity and individuality of a work of art. The technical skill involved remains an important but secondary element in the critical appreciation of the artwork.


Designer Bookbinders, a contemporary book arts association founded over fifty years ago in the UK, moves forward into the 21st Century having achieved its fundamental objectives of promoting, maintaining and improving the standards of design and craft in hand bookbinding by means of exhibitions, teaching and publications.


The Bibliotheca Wittockiana in Brussels is a museum of bookbinding which for over 25 years has housed the collection of Michel Wittock, a bibliophile who was a great lover of fine bindings.

This remarkable museum is also a documentation centre on bookbinding as well as an exhibit site for books and bookbinding.

Its activities highlighting contemporary binding reveal the talent of current practitioners.


In 1984, an organization known as the ARA (Les Amis de la Reliure d’Art or the friends of art bookbinding) was founded in France by Marcel Garigou. Its aim was to make fine bookbinding better known and appreciated by a larger public.

Over the years Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Italy and Spain joined in. At the same time, other groups sprang up in several countries to bring bookbinders together through organizing meetings and exhibitions.

In 1996, the 5th edition of FIRA, the international forum of fine bookbinding, took place in Montreal, following which the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, the provincial government library, adopted an acquisition policy for fine bindings in order to recognize the art and assure its conservation.


Since 1983, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG) has worked to support the development of the book arts. The Guild brings together craftspeople in the fields of bookbinding, artists' books, papermaking, calligraphy, letterpress printing & typography, wood engraving, paper decorating, restoration and conservation, in order to encourage contacts and foster a spirit of cooperation.


In 1994 an organization known as AIR NEUF was set up by nine friends who were bookbinders from various countries.

Its purpose was to stimulate reflection, innovation and creativity in looking forward to the bookbinding of the future.


A significant step in the recognition of the art of fine binding was taken by the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, the historical library of the City of Paris, under the direction of Jean Derens, in setting aside a space exclusively devoted to bookbinding.


The Librairie Blaizot, which has just celebrated 170 years of existence, has been a strong supporter of creative bookbinding.


Since 1891, the magazine known as Art et Métiers du Livre (book arts and crafts) has promoted bookbinding, studied its history and featured beautiful bindings and the artists who created them. It’s the only magazine in the world specializing in bookbinding, printmaking and the book arts and continues to flourish in the 21st century.


During this period associations of bookbinders were being set up in developed countries from the United Kingdom and North America to Australia, Japan and the Baltic States, organizing events, courses, exhibitions and meetings.

I’ll call this period “the transition”, “the evolution”, “the growth of awareness” or “the reflection” leading to the emancipation of the bookbinder, of fine bookbinding and of bookbinding as an artistic medium.


From now on we’ll speak of the artist who has chosen the book as the medium in which he or she creates as the BOOK ARTIST.

In this new perspective, the craft-bookbinder will specialize in restoration and the preservation of our print heritage. His CHALLENGE will be to acquire not only a knowledge of chemistry but also cultural and technical knowledge of art history and the history of the book.


As for the artist-bookbinder, he or she will have to master art history and the history of the book and their study of bookbinding will take place in a university setting — as is already the case in several countries. But bookbinders have not necessarily adjusted to this new context

A BREAK WITH THE PAST

In the 1990s, a break with the past occurred as the arrival of hypertext technology brought ever greater access to information. The encoding of written texts, still and moving images and sound in a single and simple form, through the medium of the screen, is without doubt an invention as important as that of writing itself. The Internet reduces the costs of production and distribution just as printing did at the end of the Middle Ages.

THE 21st CENTURY

The 21st century has already seen the introduction of electronic-book technologies like Google’s Reader and Amazon’s Kindle.

THE 21st CENTURY

It’s hard to predict what the future of the book will be; but in 2010 there were an estimated 130 million titles inventoried. The printed book won’t disappear overnight.

We can hope that the codex form will survive for texts requiring sustained reading. The electronic book in fact confers a new meaning and value upon its paper counterpart that we’ve known for centuries.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE 21st CENTURY AND ITS FUTURE

It’s certainly not the first time in history that the bookbinder has faced a new CHALLENGE. Any number of works on the subject tell of other critical moments when practitioners of the craft seemed trapped by circumstance.

This may be the critical moment to reinvent the bookbinder’s art and craft and develop them in modern and contemporary ways, adopting new approaches to artistic binding. The book, which industrial printing and binding made into an everyday artifact, can become something unique as Reader and Kindle proliferate.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE 21st CENTURY AND ITS FUTURE

The book will again become a special object for which fine binding and art binding will propose rich veins of interpretation. The book’s surprising destiny will take it beyond the walls of the library, as the meditations of 21st-century bookbinders dwell on the book as the nucleus of an environment rendering homage to its character as a work of art.

Witnessing the book set forth, as it were, to reconquer its own particular identity, it’s urgent that we underscore its dimension as a work of art and

that we cultivate its unique formal and material capacities as a

THE FUTURE

In creating bindings destined to take the book beyond the walls of the library to a new space, the gallery, whose walls, columns, floors and furnishings are designed to stimulate reflection on the book as the nucleus of an environment rendering homage to its character as a work of art.

In identifying bookbinding as a unique and full-fledged form of visual art and emphasizing the new meaning taken on by the bound book itself in the digital age.

THE FUTURE

In resituating the art of bookbinding without negating its traditional role of fashioning books in accordance with established principles, in order to facilitate their reading. In constantly renewing the practice of bookbinding, which must evolve just as the book itself evolves, in order to remain current, contemporary and never outmoded.

In finding ways to develop and disseminate a new dynamic and reach more people who love books and reading.

WHY BIND BOOKS?

Nourishing our mind and soul with a book enriches us. But binding a book to make it more beautiful, give it a longer life or make it attractive to those around us is already a good reason justifying our determination.

WHY BIND BOOKS?

The book world is like a jungle running in all directions… or like a series of highways with countless exits that are so many roads to knowledge… miles of shelves, farther than the eye can see, packed with yesterday’s books, today’s books and empty spaces waiting for tomorrow’s books.

More than ever, all those books are waiting to be chosen and bound. After which they’ll feel more appreciated!

WHAT TO BIND?

Tomorrow’s book, more than ever, must be bound. It’s up to us, bookbinders who’ve taken the step into the 21st century, to find the road that will bring our work to the gallery and the museum.

HOW TO BIND IT ?

Binding a book requires that we make it our own by reading it and reflecting on it, and then find a way to bind it that measures up to the beauty of the text, the images, the typography, the design, the paper: recognizing that the book has claims on us in terms of rights, duties and objectives.

We legitimize our work by establishing a complicity with the book and furthering its objectives.

WHO DECIDES HOW TO BIND IT?

Bookbinding in the 21st century will be an independent art form requiring a high level of knowledge of the book and a demanding formal training:

As bookbinding evolves, many will be called but few chosen. Those who can express themselves in this art and be satisfied with it will find fulfillment.

WHO DECIDES HOW TO BIND IT?

There are so many paths opening before us: millions of books that cry out for our skills and creativity to transform them into unique works of art. It’s up to us to find the path that suits us. The choice is enormous.

It’s important to realize what a privilege it is for us to find ourselves in the midst of all this technological progress and, at the same time, possess the culture of the past. We have to grasp the significance of it and accept the responsibility, even the duty, that it implies to insure the transmission of the historical and technical knowledge we possess.

A NEW MODUS OPERANDI

It’s a basic requirement for being a bookbinder.

Spend some time on research and experimentation. Explore new subjects and new materials.

Use the technologies you already know to open up other fields for exploration and creativity.

Study the history of bookbinding; discover the strengths of our predecessors. Find their weaknesses and try to improve on their techniques. Avoid compromise.

Share your knowledge, remembering that the more you give, the more you receive.

AND THE DREAM…

Bindings for lovers of books and literature, for bibliophiles, for artist’s books and painter’s books. Books bound by readers who become creators, enhancing the essence and the soul of the book.

The collector — or, should we say

— will be prepared to spend a fair amount of money to acquire the work he wants. The simple fact of knowing he’ll love it and give it a privileged place in the world he inhabits will be a source of great joy to you, the artist-binder.

20th CENTURY INNOVATORS

There are a few great names which have marked the history of bookbinding in the 20th century: pioneers who innovated and experimented at the risk of upsetting old habits and, at times perhaps, of shocking certain sensibilities. I’ll name some of them and try to characterize their contribution in a few words. Their work and their history is well documented.

Decorative flower forms.


Design by ruler and compass.

An outstanding female figure of her period. The dream of every bookbinder: have only one client.

Dynamic and inventive.


Took bookbinding beyond the studio in assuming the CHALLENGE of defending a doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne, a unique and remarkable achievement. He accompanied me in my research and in my work.

The gift of renewal.

An extraordinary partnership between an artist-bookbinder and a craft bookbinder.


In the tradition of Henri Mercher.Research and INNOVATION.

Innovator who breaks down walls.

Free and indomitable.

I pay homage to all the artists who’ve inspired me throughout my career.

, a remarkable bookbinder and visionary. He succeeded in passing on his knowledge to his son. I was at his studio in the rue Viscomti in 1978-79. The teaching at the Mercher studio revealed to me a refined approach uniting great flexibility with severe discipline.

HOMAGE

, whose 1973 work Through the Looking-Glass sparked my desire to create outside of traditional patterns

Seventeen bindings by , displayed at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s 1977 “Sonia et Robert Delaunay” exhibit: innovative abstract works which didn’t separate the object and the work of art. She thrilled me.

, light in texture and in black. He showed me the art of black.

, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, 1910. There is no ‘must’ in art because art is free. Art flees from ‘must’ like day from night.

HOMAGE

Books are mirrors and we only see in them what we have inside ourselves.

I hope you will create timeless works.

Ph

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Bruges, May 2011

Text of a talk presented in May 2011 at the Xth International Forum of Fine Bookbinding in Bruges, Belgium

Odette Drapeau, RCA

Book artist

LA RELIURE AU XXIÈME SIÈCLE – DÉFI - INNOVATION

1. Ancien : action de défier en un combat singulier

2. Action de défier quelqu’un à un jeu, à une compétition : lancer un défi

Accepter, relever un défi : y répondre à

Mettre quelqu’un au défi (+ inf) : le défier de faire quelque chose

3. Refus, parfois inconsidéré, de se soumettre, attitude insolente, bravade

4. Problème, difficulté que pose une situation et que l’on doit surmonter (le défi des mutations

technologiques)

Le Petit Larousse

DÉFI

INNOVATION

1. Action d’innover, d’inventer. De créer qqchose de nouveau

2. Ce qui est nouveau, création (des innovations techniques)

INNOVER

Introduire qqchose de nouveau dans un domaine particulier


1. Provocation à un combat singulier – porter un défi

2. Déclaration provocatrice par laquelle on exprime à quelqu’un qu’on le juge hors d’état de faire quelque

chose

Le Littré

DÉFI

INNOVATION

Action d’innover, d’inventer, résultat de cette action


1. Fait de défier ; invitation au combat

2. Fait de provoquer qqchose. Mettre qqn au défi de (+ inf.)

3. Refus de se soumettre. - bravade, provocation – c’est un défi au bon sens.

Le Petit Robert

DÉFI

INNOVATION

Fait d’innover ; chose nouvelle. – création, découverte, invention.

INNOVER

Introduire du nouveau (dans un domaine)


Merriam Webster Dictionary

CHALLENGE

INNOVATION

1. A summons that is often threatening, provocative, stimulating, or inciting

2. A stimulating task or problem

1. The introduction of something new

2. A new idea, method, or device


1. De handeling van het uitdagen.

2. Zaak, daad of uiting die prikkelt tot een reactie.

Van Dale Groot Woordenboek van de Nederlandse Taal

UITDAGING

INNOVATIEInvoering van iets nieuws.

INNOVERENAls nieuwigheid invoeren, vernieuwen.

TextesOdette Drapeau

Traduction en anglaisKevin Cohalan

Conception et infographieYvon Beaudin (www.yvonbeaudin.com)

Crédits

Justification des images

Photos d’Odette Drapeau par Philippe Jasmin.Musique : composition/interprétation : Alexendra Stréliski, ouverture : « Prélude », fermeture : « Le Départ ».

HistoireMichel de Nostradamus. Médecin prophète français 1503-1566.Calendrier Maya.

L’écritureIdéogramme et pictogrammes.

L’écritureSupport de l’écriture : argile, cire, papyrus, papier, la route de la soie.

Le ScribeLe scribe au Moyen Âge.Le scribe accroupi.Le scribe kaninisout, un genou plié.

La forme du livreLe livre en parchemin.Le codex.Le rouleau.


Naissance du livreL’abbaye de Saint Benoît du Lac (Canada).L’abbaye Cystercien de Senanque (France).Le Monastère suspendu, Xuankong sur la route entre Pékin et Xi’an (Chine).

Naissance de la reliureReliure du XVIème siècle. Reliure du XVIIème siècle. Reliure du XVIIIème siècle. Bonnet phrygien.

Naissance de la reliure industrielleLa production de masse. L’atelier de production. L’équipement.

Naissance de la reliure industrielleLes Éditions Hetzel, fin XIXème siècle : reliures réalisées en percaline et communément appelées « cartonnage polychrome Hetzel ». Jules Verne, « Le Voyage Extraordinaire ». Jules Verne, « Le tour du monde en 80 jours ». Jules Verne, « L’île mystérieuse ».


Les vingt dernières années du millénaireReliure de Faith Shannon. De Raymond Briggs, « The Snowman ».Faith Shannon, l’artiste.Reliure de Faith Shannon. De Georges Maw, « Genus Crocus », 1886.

Les vingt dernières années du millénaire.Trois reliures d’Odette Drapeau.

7 artistes x 7 relieurs, « 7x7 ». Photo David Knut, BAC. De Nane Couzier, « Noirs, Bleus, Sables ». Photo Pierre Perrault, BanQ. De Nane Couzier, « Du Coin de l’Œil ». Photo Christian Biron.

Les vingt dernières années du millénaire.Reliure de Philip Smith. « Six Fairy Tales », gravures de David Hockney.Reliure de Jeff Clements. « The critic as artist » de Oscar Wilde.

Les vingt dernières années du millénaireBiblioteca Wittockiana. Vue de jour. Vue de nuit. Salle d’exposition.


Les vingt dernières années du millénaire Catalogues. FIRA Montréal, 1996. FIRA Bâle, 1990. FIRA Grèce, 2002. FIRA Luxembourg, 1994.

Les vingt dernières années du millénaire Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG) Journal 2007Maîtres de la Reliure d’Art, une exposition itinérante internationale de reliures d’art par les membres de la German Masters Guild, organisée et diffusée par le CBBAG.Book Arts arts du livre Canada.

Les vingt dernières années du millénaire AIR NEUF Catalogues. Air neuf prend des couleurs à la Wittockiana, 2002. Air neuf à Mariemont, 1999. D’Or et d’Argent à la BHVP, 2004.

Les vingt dernières années du millénaire Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris. Salle d’exposition. Salle de lecture.


Les vingt dernières années du millénaire LIBRAIRIE BLAIZOT, 1841. 164 Faubourgs St-Honoré. Vue de l’intérieur, 2011.

Les vingt dernières années du millénaire Art et Métiers du Livre. Numéro 107 mai 1981. Numéro 194 novembre décembre 1995. Numéro 256 octobre novembre 2006. Numéro 282 janvier février 2011

Les vingt dernières années du millénaire Catalogues d’exposition : Bel Libre 2003, Suisse. Scripta Manent IV 2011, Estonie. Book Kniga 2001, Lithuanie.

Les vingt dernières années du millénaire La restauration et la conservation du patrimoine. Avant Pendant Après


Les vingt dernières années du millénaire Trois reliures d’Odette Drapeau. De Patricia Smart, « Les Femmes du Refus Global ». Photo David Knut. De Lewis Carroll, « Le Frelon à perruque, un chapitre inédit de l’autre côté du miroir ». Photo Odette Drapeau. De Paul Wenz, « Charley, Jim and Jack ». Photo Yvon Beaudin.

La rupture « Du papyrus à l’hypertexte », Christian Vanderhorpe aux Éditions Boréal.

Le XXIème siècle Le Kindle Le livre électronique.

Le XXIème siècle « Le Jardin de la connaissance », Thilo Folkerts de 100 landschaftsarchitektur & Rodney Latourelle, Berlin/Allemagne, Germany www.100land.de. De Laure Adler et Stefan Rollmann, Les Femmes qui lisent sont dangereuses aux éditions Flammarion 2006


Un nouveau regard sur le XXIème siècle et son future « Le Livre de l’An 3000 ». Installation livre commémorant le nouveau millénaire, réalisée par Odette Drapeau et Alena Prochaska, architecte, dans le cadre des projets du millénaire du Conseil des Arts du Canada. Photo Odette Drapeau.

Le futur Installations d’Odette Drapeau. Installation à la BHVP en 2005. Photo Odette Drapeau. Installation à la Galerie Materia (Québec) en 2004. Photo Louis Audet.

Le futur Trois reliures d’Odette Drapeau. De Zuvies Oda, « Koliazas Popierius », 2001. Photo Pierre Perrault. Un texte de Robert Marteau, des gravures de Pierre Henry, « L’Étoile dans la Vitre ». Photo Yvon Beaudin. De Georges Pialloux, « Maurice Ravel Le Basque ». Photo Odette Drapeau.

Pourquoi les relier ? Échangeur Turcot à Montréal.


Comment le relier ? Trois reliures d’Odette Drapeau. De Hans Jurgen Greif, « Orfeo », 2004. Photo Yvon Beaudin. De France Mongeau, « Lumières », 1987. Photo Pierre Perrault, BANQ. De Rainer Maria Rilke, « Lettre à une Musicienne », 2006. Photo Yvon Beaudin.

Qui doit choisir comment le relier ? Deux reliures d’Odette Drapeau. De Veljo Tormis et Lauldud Sona, « The word was Sung », 2010. Photo Yvon Beaudin. De Claude Haeffely, « Tout est FAUX c’est le paradis », Claude Haeffely ,1994. Photo Guy Borremans.Reliure de Josée Dessureault. De Diderot, illustré par Naudin, « Le Neveu de Rameau ». 2010. Photo Yvon Beaudin.

Les innovateurs du XXème siècle Reliure de Marius Michel, 1897.

Les innovateurs du XXème siècle Reliure de Pierre Legrain. Reliure de Paul Bonnet. Reliure de Rose Adler.


Les innovateurs du XXème siècle Reliure de Roger Devauchelle Reliure de Germaine de Coster et Hélène Dumas Reliure de Georges Leroux

Les innovateurs du XXème siècle Reliure de Philip Smith. Reliure de Daniel Knoderer. Reliure de Jean de Gonet.

Hommage Reliure d’Henri Mercher. Reliure de Faith Shannon

Hommage Sonia Delaunay. Pierre Soulages. Kandinsky, « Du Spirituel dans l’Art et dans la peinture en particulier », 1910.

photo: © philippe jasmin. english translation by kevin cohalan

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