SHARP 2011: The Book in Art and Science

Submissions are invited for the nineteenth annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP) to be held in Washington, DC, Thursday, 14 July through Sunday, 17 July 2011. The sponsors of the conference are the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, the Library of Congress, the Folger Shakespeare Library and Institute, and the Corcoran College of Art + Design.

Evoking Washington's status as an artistic and scientific center, "The Book in Art & Science" is a theme open to multiple interpretations. Besides prompting considerations of the book as a force in either art or science or the two fields working in tandem, it also encourages examinations of the scientific text; the book as a work of art; the art and science of manuscript, print, or digital textual production; the role of censorship and politics in the creation, production, distribution, or reception of particular scientific or artistic texts; the relationship between the verbal and the visual in works of art or science; art and science titles from the standpoint of publishing history or the histories of specific publishers; and much more. As always, proposals dealing with any aspect of book history are welcome.

More information on submissions for the conference is available on the SHARP website; deadline is November 30, 2010.

Some Consumer Advice for "Black Friday"

For an earlier posting on the operation of books, see Medieval Help Desk, or The More Things Change . . . .

Book Drive for UNC Pediatric Cancer Patients

Various UNC departments and organizations are sponsoring a book drive until December 9, 2010 on behalf of the Book Fairy, an organization that donates children’s books to the Pediatric Oncology Clinic at UNC Hospitals.

The need is especially great for English and Spanish-language board books, the sturdy picture books that can withstand repeated use by very young children.

Book drive organizers have created a list of suggested titles, but will gladly accept all new or gently-used books for ages one through mid-teen.

The drive follows a successful effort in 2009 that brought in 2,377 books.

Campus drop-off locations are:

• Davis Library lobby
• Undergraduate Library lobby
• Wilson Library lobby
• Health Sciences Library
• Law Library
• School of Information and Library Science, Manning Hall lobby
• School of Education, Peabody Hall, Student Affairs Office lobby, 1st floor
• School of Social Work, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building lobby

For information about the drive, contact Katelyn Ander, UNC Undergraduate Library, 919-962-2559.

Artists' Books: When the Goblet Becomes the Wine

Books created by artists from around the country will be on display during a trunk sale and program by Vamp & Tramp Booksellers on November 16, 2010 in the Hanes Art Center at UNC.

The program will feature Bill and Vicky Stewart, owners of Vamp & Tramp, which is based in Birmingham, Alabama. Their talk, “Artists’ Books: When the Goblet Becomes the Wine,” will give an introduction to the genre, which is defined as works of art in the form of books.

Vamp & Tramp represents more than 300 contemporary fine presses and book artists. The Stewarts will showcase books in their inventory, selected to represent a wide range of the work currently being done by book artists.

The book sale will be held from 3-5:30pm at the Sloane Art Library. A reception will begin at 5:15pm in the lobby before the presentation at 6pm in the Hanes Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Note: The title of the Stewarts' presentation alludes to an essay by Beatrice Ward, "The Crystal Goblet or Printing Should Be Invisible" (The Crystal Goblet: Sixteen Essays on Typography, 1956), wherein she observes that ". . . you will find that almost all the virtues of the perfect wine-glass have a parallel in typography."