Natural Philosophies, the official announcement

Publication Announcement
Natural Philosophies

How is information disseminated and stored? Who has access to knowledge? Where does oral tradition and myth become standard practice? The role of women, as witches, midwives, healers, and heretics, was especially important and contentious where the kitchen garden met the apothecary and physician’s office, yet women have always challenged the erratic assumptions of a male medical field (i.e., the wandering womb) with treatments that provided relief and assistance. Yet modern medicine is still based in the herbal remedies of the deep past: aspirin is based on an extract derived from the leaves of the willow tree, and the strongest of modern painkillers are still based on the herbal properties of the poppy.

Elizabeth Blackwell, working in the early 18th century, documented many of the plants used for medical purposes. The variety of approaches to herbs as treatments as published in contemporary literature is provided here alongside reproductions of her engravings.

The engravings and descriptions are alternated with the greatest assemblage of uncontested fact, the Encyclopedia Britannica, an edition that both contains the collected wisdom of the ages, and yet still cannot escape the inherent and implicit prejudices of the times. As such, it is both a master document of information, and a constantly evolving resource that tells as much about a historic perspective as it does about dry historical facts. Here, the pages have been altered using a monoprint treatment, to bring aging and depth as a patina over the text.

Botanical engravings from A Curious Herbal, Elizabeth Blackwell, 1739, from the New York Public Library Digital Collections. Herbal remedies from historic sources contemporary to the engravings. Monoprints on pages from the Encyclopedia Britannica, volume C, 1969. Printed on Asuka paper on an Indigo printer. Bound in quarter cloth. Edition of 20. 2016. $ 175

Lost Souls, some closure

After a year of the creepy eye project marinating -- as an artist's book for the California Guild of Bookworker's "Look A Book!" exhibition, then as an edition of fifty created for the Codex book fair, the fifteen deluxe editions are finally completed. Two of them have been acquired by institutional libraries; two are not for sale; eleven are available for purchase.

Amissa Anima: the book of the dead

Two volumes in clamshell box.

 
Eye engraving, Dioptrique oculaire, Chérubin d’Orléans, 1671. The Spirit Photographs of William Hope, the National Media Museum. The Ouija, Kennard Novelty Co., Museum of Talking Boards. Printed on Asuka on an Indigo printer with Joss paper endpapers. Bound in laminated Asuka paper over marbled paper.

The deluxe edition contains a bell (Hearts (fractured)), book, and candle (Life (spark of)), three essential tools used in summoning of the spirit world; and a set of bottled emotions, as strong emotional memories link the spirit world to the corporeal. The bottled emotions contain metaphorical representations of human experience:


Animal magnetism: Felis catus vibrissae; Anticipation (concentrate): coastal sand; Disbelief (suspension): rosehips from Rosa multiflora Thunb.; Hope (kindling of): phosphorus sesquisulfide and potassium chlorate on a balsa wood base; Memories (suppressed): Buddhist incense; Misdirection: antique key; Promises: seeds from Symphyotrichum lanceolatum; Rage (bottled): seeds from Asclepias syriaca L.; Resentment (shards): shattered family china.

Deluxe edition of 15. 2016.

This concludes the creepy eye infestation of the studio.

Codex 2017

Don't know about Codex? Read this New York Times article for a pretty thorough description. Then visit me at my table at the Craneway Pavilion, in Richmond, CA, to see recent creative work from the studio!

That's me. You probably know that already.

Family Style
Recipes collected by Helen Marchese, primarily from the late 1940s through the 1980s. Endpapers from Paul Bercy, Simples Notions de Francais, New York, 1894. Printed on Mohawk Superfine on an Indigo printer. Bound in a three part binding with stamped linen spine and gingham fabric over boards. Edition of 50. 2017.

Between, Among, Within
Indigo pigment pastepapers. Photographs of the Catskill water supply system in process of construction, 1918, with A topographical map of Hudsons River, Claude Sauthier, 1898, both from The New York Public Library Digital Collections. Printed on Asuka paper on an Indigo printer. Full cloth binding. Edition of 22. 2016.

Natural Philosophies
Botanical engravings from A Curious Herbal, Elizabeth Blackwell, 1739, from the New York Public Library Digital Collections. Herbal remedies from historic sources. Monoprints on pages from the
Encyclopedia Britannica, volume C, 1969. Printed on Asuka paper on an Indigo printer. Bound in quarter cloth. Edition of 20. 2016.

Amissa Anima: a book of the dead
Two volumes. Eye engraving, Dioptrique oculaire, Chérubin d’Orléans, 1671. The Spirit Photographs of William Hope, the National Media Museum. The Ouija, Kennard Novelty Co., Museum of Talking Boards. Printed on Asuka on an Indigo printer with Joss paper endpapers. Bound in laminated Asuka paper over marbled paper. Edition of 50;  2016.

We're going to Hollywood!

photo credit Los Angeles Public Library

Effective June 1, Stephanie Gibbs Bookbinding is thrilled to announce the new studio location, right on Hollywood Boulevard. Directly above a used book shop, a stone's throw from cocktails and coffee, and, of course, on the Walk of Stars.

Do come visit! (Please call or email first!)
(213) 223-6921
stephaniegibbs@gmail.com
6646 Hollywood Boulevard Ste 206, Hollywood, CA 90028

 

upcoming talk -- April 17!

Join me at BookArtsLA, in West Hollywood, for a free lecture on Sunday evening, April 17, at 6.30.

Here's the text from the press release:

Loving Old Books: An Evening Talk with Stephanie Gibbs

Stephanie Gibbs is a conservator, book enthusiast, expert about vellum, historical bibles, leather bindings. and much more. Stephanie will talk about the care and special considerations for old books.

Stephanie is currently Bookbinder-In-Residence at the International Museum of Printing in Carson, CA, and operates her private bookbinding and conservation practice out of the Book Arts Annex.

Put Another Way:

Let's find an interesting way to look at and talk about my work in book conservation! The goal of the evening is to have a good time and for everyone to stay awake, even if the combination of powerpoint and old books might be, in other circumstances, soporific.

 

year of the monkey

New Year's Eve Fireworks
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archive

2016 : The Year of the Monkey
And postal deliveries were a bit funky
Empty envelopes in mailboxes across this fair land
Missing holiday flipbooks (made by hand)
If yours didn’t arrive, do write me a note
A replacement will be sent, be you near or remote.

the somersault holiday edition

It has been an autumn of palm trees, oceans, and museums. Thankfully, the museums have palm trees, so there hasn't been much of a need to choose between these focal points.

Then the holiday season arrived, and, with it, lights on palm trees. I was deeply amused.

The discovery of the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archives led to the parallel discovery that lights-on-palm-trees goes back at least to the thirties:

As do any number of other jolly holiday traditions:

Meanwhile, I also discovered the French National Library Archives, except, being French, they call it Bibliothèque nationale de France, and all of the databases are listed and indexed in French. I neither speak nor read French. However, there were illustrated comic books! With build-it-yourself-flip-books! My ignorance of French was not about to stand in my way of antique flip-books.

So, combining an Ansel Adams Christmas Show ("Santa's Circus") from Los Angeles, with a somersaulting top-hatted acrobat from France, the holiday edition 2015-2016 came to be.

The pages were reformatted, cleaned, and laid out in Photoshop and InDesign, and printed commercially. This was a larger edition than in years past, encompassing recipients from both sides of the Atlantic and stretching across to the Pacific, so I used more industrial equipment, as well. It was a good excuse to learn how to use a Challenge paper cutter (without losing a finger) and a drill press (likewise).

Each page was cut down to strips, then each strip separated into frames.

Booklets were then collated, and sewing holes drilled.

It became apparent that a blank spine was simply a spine waiting for its next shining opportunity:

 

The booklets were sewn into their folded wrappers:

 

And somersaulted into the world, carried by USPS circus stamps. Happy new year!