Online gallery of decorative trade bindings reflects history of books
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, in conjunction with the University of Alabama University Libraries, will explore historic decorative trade bindings in American works through an online exhibit of nearly 10,000 digital images taken from almost 5,000 books.
Some of the books come from the William B. Cairns Collection of American Women Writers (1650-1920) in UW-Madison's Department of Special Collections, as well as Memorial Library's general collection, the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, the State Historical Library and Steenbock Library, among others. Alabama will draw materials from the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, which houses more than 2,700 works from the 1830s to the 1920s. The books in the latter collection cover a variety of genres, including children’s works, fiction and nonfiction, leisure guides and business publications.
The project will draw from individual donations as well. Friend of the UW-Madison Libraries Beth Kubly has made a contribution of more than 25 books, some of which may be included in the binding project. These books belonged to members of her family and are valuable resources not only for their designs but because they are representations of works found in the home.
Visitors to the site will be able to explore covers, spines, end-papers and title pages from the 1800s and early 1900s. The virtual gallery of images will feature a glossary and a guide to the bindings, as well as reference and research components, and will increase the public awareness of trade bindings and their social and historical importance.
Alabama and UW-Madison are developing a test Web site with approximately 50 images before placing the rest of the images online. Alabama will contribute half of the images, a glossary, additional information about book binding and educational resources. The UW-Madison Libraries will provide the rest of the images and the metadata for the Web site, as well as the online platform and technical support, using the SiteSearch database model that was developed for digital projects.
Louis
A. Pitschmann, the former associate director for collection development
and preservation at the UW-Madison Libraries and current dean of the University
of Alabama Libraries, came up with the idea for the trade binding project
based on UW's experience with a German
bindings Web site. The idea of a partnership developed in conversations
with the UW-Madison librarians who worked on the German bindings project
and with Director of the General Library System Ken Frazier.
Head of Digital Content Group Lee Konrad and European
History Librarian Barbara Walden are serving as the coordinators
from UW-Madison.
On display
An exhibit on the second floor of Memorial Library highlights examples of decorative bindings that are a part of the project with the University of Alabama. Included in the Publishers' Bindings: The Art of Books, 1815-1930 exhibit are samples drawn from the library collections of UW-Madison and the Wisconsin Historical Society, and from recent gifts to the UW-Madison Libraries. These are just a few of the books that were mass produced beginning in the 1800s, whose covers included pictorial scenes, textured cloth and gilt and color stamped bindings. The exhibit assembled by Walden and Director of the Silver Buckle Press Tracy Honn will be on display through August 15.
In the news
College and Research Libraries News acknowledged the grant awarded
to the University of Alabama and UW-Madison in the April 2004 issue. The Institute of Museum
and Library Services awarded the three year grant totaling $226,653 to
develop essentially a digital encyclopedia of decorative book bindings.