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Cambridge Room Lecture Series: The Beauty of Book Binding and Decoration: Linked Spine Bindings

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Location:
Main Library
449 Broadway
Lecture Hall
Cambridge

Event image for Cambridge Room Lecture Series: The Beauty of Book Binding and Decoration: Linked Spine Bindings

Join book conservator, Sam Ellenport, for an illustrated talk on the history of linked spine bindings, a little known aspect of bookbinding decoration used on sets of books. The binder makes use of the entire rectangle comprised of all the spines as a canvas on which to produce an overall design, whether representational or abstract. 

Sam Ellenport has been a hand-bookbinder since he bought the Harcourt Bindery in Boston over 40 years ago. Trained as an historian, Ellenport has written and lectured about the history of the craft throughout the country. He is a passionate collector of books about binding. Committed to education, Ellenport helped establish the bookbinding program at the North Bennet Street School in 1986 and remains an advisor. He has served in various positions among book-related organizations. As a witness to the great sea-change occurring today in the book arts, Ellenport remains a defender of the classic aesthetic developed around the physical book.

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