The Unburnable Book

To support free expression and fight censorship, author Margaret Atwood has joined forces with Penguin Random House and others to produce an unburnable version of The Handmaid's Tale, which is now being auctioned by Sotheby's. All proceeds go to benefit PEN America. The current bid is $42,000, and the auction closes June 7, 2022. 

Here are the technical specifications for the highly engineered edition of one: 

8vo. Printed on black-and-white-coated aluminum Cinefoils, used in film production to wrap hot lights, which are stable to 660°C/1220°F, textblock hand-sewn with nickel wire, often used in electrical components, which is stable to 1400°C/2,600°F, head and tail bands are woven stainless steel, used in aerospace manufacturing, which are stable up to 1530°C/2790°F. Boards 3mm phenolic sheets, used in electronics manufacturing, which are stable to 540°F/282°C, opaque white and CMYK printing produced on an OKI five-colour digital press, with inks stable to 1200°C/2200°F. 

In the video above, Atwood is demonstrating proof of concept. Of related interest are earlier Common Curator posts on censorship, including Books Are Weapons in the War of Ideas. 

University of Iowa To Offer MFA Program in the Book Arts

The University of Iowa's Center for the Book received approval earlier this month to begin offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Book Arts beginning Fall 2011. The Center has long offered a graduate certificate, and will soon join the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Columbia College in Chicago, and Mills College in Oakland, California as one of just a handful of institutions with a graduate program in the book arts. Iowa's program is notable for its breadth and depth, as well as its collaborative approach, drawing on significant university resources and faculty in papermaking, printing, calligraphy, bookbinding, digital technologies, and the history of the book. More information on Iowa's Center for the Book can be found at the Center's web site.

See related blog post on the Center's Timothy Barrett: Papermaker Named MacArthur Fellow.

BookOpolis 2010: Memory Palaces

Asheville BookWorks, a community resource for print and book arts based in North Carolina, is sponsoring BookOpolis 2010 this September 24-25, 2010. On Friday, the BookOpolis exhibition, with the theme of Memory Palaces, will have its opening reception from 6-9pm. It will feature over 100 artists' books from around the United States and internationally. On Saturday from 12-5pm, visitors can watch demonstrations and participate in activities such as letterpress printing, papermaking, book binding, and printmaking. For a full description of events, visit the BookWorks website.

Throughout the year, BookWooks also sponsors workshops, exhibits, lectures, and other events, such as the Edible Book Festival. BookWorks is a valuable resource for all those with an interest in the book arts, providing "space, equipment and technical support for artistic exploration, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge."

Note: The BookOpolis 2010 poster, shown here, was screenprinted by Philip Bell and is available for purchase at the event.