After over two decades, I finally upgraded the images and made some other tweaks to the German-style springback tutorial I wrote with Donia Conn.
The tutorial was originally published in Designer Bookbinders' The New Bookbinder, vol. 23, 2003. It was, and still is shared online at The Book Arts Web.The original images were shot on film, not terribly well lit, and printed in black and white. Those were the times.
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| The action of the spine from the 2003 article. |
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| A cutaway model from the 2003 article. |
While the action of the spine and some other functional aspects are identical to the English version, the aesthetic and steps, especially the construction of the spring are quite different. View the tutorial here. Below some of the images via Instagram.
It is past due time for another Ernst Collin related update, something I have tried to do on his birthday of 31 May. As with the last one, there have been few new findings. Much of that does back to my slower pace of life, yet I was still able to find some things.
Of most interest was making use of our Ancestry.com subscription to search for anything on the Collins. Successes were to be had, also in terms of the "other Ernst". These certificates are the only official confirmation of the other facts that led to the disambiguation of these two Ernsts previously described in the "Tale of Two Ernsts" from 2013. Ernst Heinrich and Else were "deported" to Auschwitz where they were murdered in December 1942. Heinrich Ernst and Margareta were able to emigrate.
The first is a birth certificate for Ernst Heinrich Collin (note the name), son of Georg and Regina Collin.
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Ernst Heinrich Collin, born 31 May 1886 to Georg and Regina Collin. Note the dated stamps at right. The top indicates that per the Namensänderungsgesetz, Israel was added to all Jewish males, and Ernst on 18 March 1939. The stamp below from 1952 rescinds that law and removes the Israel. |
Below the marriage certificate for Ernst Collin and Else Cronheim dated 13 November 1913. Note again the stamps at right adding Israel and Sara to Ernst's and Else's names, as well as the stamp rescinding that law.
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| Marriage certificate for Ernst Heinrich Collin and Else Cronheim. |
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| Marriage certificate for Heinrich Ernst Collin and Margareta Weisgerber dated 4 October 1923. |
I was also able to find similar documentation for Georg and Regina Collin (Ernst Heinrich's parents) as well as Getrude Collin (Ernst's sister) who continued the firm of W. Collin, and who passed in London (UK) 28 September 1986.
In December of 2022 I received a copy of Meisterhafte Unikate, the catalog to, and history of the Meister der Einbandkunst's (MDE) 100th anniversary exhibition. Notable was the large number of Ernst Collin citations in the sections about the early history of the MDE.
In other news, in early 2023 I got the kind of email that made may day in a wonderful way. A colleague shared some images of a very large multi-volume set that had come into the conservation lab at Johns Hopkins University for some work before being returned to its rightful place in the collections. The set had come to attention because it had decorated a retiring library Dean's office... What made the set special to me was that the set had been bound by W. Collin, Court bookbinders in Berlin, and came with some important provenance.
Finally, Google Maps recently updated its Streetview images for Berlin, and the Stolpersteine can finally be seen, sort of. Read the story of how they were placed here.
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| Detail from Google Streetview of Cicerostr 61 in Berlin. |
I introduced Werner Kiessig in this post from 2020. Kiessig lived and worked in Berlin, Ost, but was also a member of the Meister der Einbandkunst (MDE), then a largely West German group that changed its name to "Meister der Einbandkunst – Internationale Vereinigung e.V." so that Kiessig could become a member.
The State Library of Berlin (Staatsbibliothek Zu Berlin, aka Stabi) has begun digitizing his bindings with multiple views. The collection can be viewed direct on the Stabi's website here.
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| Here is a binding from Handeinbände, his 1984 exhibit at the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek. He was best known for his "fine bindings." In some of the examples, one can see how he used simple and more available materials to create handsome bindings |
Yesterday, I learned of the passing of John Francis Dean (2/11/1936 - 2/29/2024). Looking back, John probably had the greatest impact on me in the conservation and preservation field. I shared some of my experiences with him in a post here several years ago.
After emigrating from Great Britain to the United States in 1969, John F. Dean managed the preservation program at the Newberry Library before establishing the apprentice training and conservation program at the Johns Hopkins University in 1975. He went to Cornell University in 1985 to establish and develop the Department of Preservation and Conservation. He is widely recognized as one of the major proponents of preservation programs at academic libraries and was the 2003 recipient of the American Library Association’s prestigious Paul Banks and Carolyn Harris Preservation Award. A thread throughout his career arc is David Stam who as as Director of the Newberry Library brought him to the U.S., then as Director of the Library at Johns Hopkins brought him there. They remained life-long friends until David's passing last February. David was University Librarian at Syracuse when I arrived there ...
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| John Dean (2nd from left) with Yoko Sampson demonstrating during one of the frequent tours he gave of the program at Johns Hopkins. The image is undated, but could have been during my time. Image from the Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection. |
I was put to work learning how to repair the heavily used books from the circulating collections, make basic enclosures for brittle items, clean stacks, … Because of the nature of the program John created at Johns Hopkins, I was exposed to all levels of work, something that deeply intrigued me so that when I wasn’t training for bike racing or studying, I also volunteered with the paper conservator, and just observed the goings on. John encouraged this interest by inviting me to observe presenters brought in like Tini Miura, exposing me to other aspects of the field. Knowing that I was a semester ahead, he encouraged me to take an internship in Germany to see what impact that experience might have - That experience led me to apprentice there after graduation and then experience my own sort of journeyman years.
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| John F. Dean striking a pose while at Cornell. |
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| John Dean and I getting ready at the inaugural Brodsky Lecture in 2005. Photo: Steve Sartori, SU Photo and Imaging Center. |
In 2005 I was fortunate to be able to help create and then lead the Brodsky Series for Advancement of Library Conservation at Syracuse University Library. It was only natural that John was invited to be the first speaker on the topic of Conservation and Preservation in the Digital Age. From my introduction at the inaugural lecture:
John Dean our speaker for this afternoon’s inaugural event will speak on “Conservation and Preservation in the Digital Age,” a topic he is uniquely qualified to speak on as a result of his leadership in such activities at Cornell. John Dean is Cornell University's Preservation and Conservation Librarian. He received his City and Guilds of London Institute medal in bookbinding in 1956, a Master of Arts degree in Library Science from the University of Chicago in 1975, and a Master of Liberal Arts degree in the History of Science from the Johns Hopkins University in 1981. Following his six years apprenticeship, Dean established and lead four major preservation programs beginning in 1960, at the Manchester Central Research Library (England), the Newberry Library (Chicago), the Johns Hopkins University Library (Baltimore), and, since 1985, Cornell University Library. He is author of several works on conservation and preservation management, has taught conservation and preservation management at the University of Maryland, Syracuse University, the University of Alabama, and the State University of New York at Albany, and is a member of several national and international preservation committees.
It was John Dean who introduced me to the field when I was a work-study student in the conservation lab at Johns Hopkins, urged me to go to Germany to apprentice as a bookbinder, and has been a true mentor and friend. I can think of no one more appropriate to inaugurate this series.
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| With John at the memorial gathering for David Stam at the end of April 2023. Despite the best intentions, it was the last time I was able to see John. |
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| Display from the memorial celebration for John held at The Kendall in Ithaca, NY. It was good to be able to say goodbye with his family and friends and colleagues from Johns Hopkins and Cornell. Many fond memories were shared that showed the the profound and meaningful impact he had on the people around him whether personal or professional. There was often no separation between the two. |
It was with sadness that I took notice today of the passing of Dietmar Klein 10/14/1943 - 2/22/2024), the bookbinding Meister I apprenticed under, in posts shared on social media. As almost always happens in moments like this, one reflects on the impact of that person on ones life, and in this case career.
Working in the Conservation and Preservation as a work-study student while at Johns Hopkins and then interning at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg inspired me to embrace bookbinding and conservation as a career. As my time as a college student was winding down, I escaped campus (and some exams) to interview at the three binderies in Germany that responded to my query about apprenticing. Ones of those was the Kunstbuchbinderei Dietmar Klein located in Künstlersiedlung Halfmannshof, an artists' colony in the heart of Germany's industrial heartland of the Ruhr Valley. that alone was enough to entice me to accept their offer to apprentice. I described the adventure of getting there, and my experiences as an apprentice in "The Ponderings of a Bookbinding Student- Part 2".
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| Me between my Meister Dietmar Klein and his wife Regina Klein at my Lossprechung in July of 1987. The Lossprechung marked the successful completion of my apprenticeship. Frau Klein would receive her Meister shortly after. |
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| The whole crew in my final year: Me, the other apprentice Nicole, the Meister, and the Gesellin (soon to be Meisterin). Photo: Ruhr Nachrichten, 9 December,1986. |
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| The Meister in his happy place doing gold finishing. |
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| Kleins visiting me at Syracuse University Libraries in 2009. They were on a big USA trip ... Note the Bonefolder caps we are all wearing. |
Thank you Herr Klein for all that you taught me. You helped me become who I am (and prove that I was better than my apprenticeship grade).
His family are in my thoughts.
Once upon a time, isn't that the way most tales start, I organized my first national traveling exhibition for the Guild of Book Workers. That was the 10/92 - 3/94 traveling Fine Printers Finely Bound Too (Download @ 13MB). Organizing and shepherding that exhibit were an adventure, especially as I had never undertaken anything like that before ... Lots of teachable moments.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, I also ended up designing the catalog by myself with a VERY tight deadline (HAD to be published by the opening), and had no experience doing that sort of work beyond those as high school yearbook editor a little over 12 years earlier. Fortunately, I had an excellent photographer. The rest was up to me. I worked with what I knew, namely WordPerfect 5.0 and the very limited typefaces I had available. Those were the days. Choices were informed by what I was infatuated with at the time. Not everyone was happy, but it was out on time. Again, a learning experience.
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| Cover to the printed catalog of Fine Printers Finely Bound Too. (Download @ 13MB) |
One of the things I made sure of was that there were plenty of copies in sheets. Binders crave books in sheets, and there were many wonderful works for inspiration within those pages. I then set about binding 2 copies in 1993. The one on the top one was for me, the bottom one a commission from the then Guild president who was also the preferred bookbinding supply vendor for most of us. The technique described is what in German is referred to as the Franzband, THE fine binding structure for full-leather bindings. Frank Mowery presented on the technique at the 1990 Guild of Bookbinders' Standards, so read his Journal article, "The Logic and Techniques of German Bookbinding", and see the presentation handout here.
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Fine Printers Finely Bound, Too. The Guild of Book Workers, New York, 1992. Sewn on 3 frayed out cords; gray "zig-zag" endsheets and sewn red leather joint; graphite top edge; red and gray endbands. Covered in full chagrin leather with multicolored onlays in black, gray and sharkskin. Tooled in gold and blind. 24 x 16 x 1.5cm. Bound 1993. |
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Fine Printers Finely Bound, Too. The Guild of Book Workers, New York, 1992. Commissioned copy. Sewn on 3 frayed out cords; gray "zig-zag" endsheets and sewn red leather joint; graphite top edge; red and gray endbands. Covered in full chagrin leather with multicolored onlays in black, gray and shark skin. Tooled in gold and blind. 24 x 16 x 1.5cm. Bound 1993. |
When she retired and sold off her business, that copy disappeared for years before reappearing at an auctioneer where I got outbid.
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| The first auction after eBay. I got outbid ... |
It then reappeared on a dealer site for A LOT of $$. I was flattered, but yikes ...
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| Dealer listing. I was flattered ... |
Then they retired, sold off their stock, and this book went to another auctioneer.
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| The final auction ... Probably could have gotten it for less, but pizza dude rang the bell, so "hail Mary" bid it was. |
This time I was successful, and the prodigal book returned home to be with its sibling.
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| Both, reunited after over 30 years ... |
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| "Interesting texture on this shark leather, and you did ok binding it ..." |
January 27th is recognized as Holocaust Memorial Day, the day of the Soviet liberation of Auschwitz in 1945. With the increasing and ongoing spread of totalitarian movements, rhetoric, and imagery across the globe, it is important to remember the past and where it can lead if we are not vigilant and push back at all times.
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| Ernst and Else Collin from the catalog to the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung of 1929, an image of a painting by Walter Kampmann. Ernst is sitting in a chair with a book [paper], and holding a writing instrument, his head seemingly lost in thought resting in his palm. A woman, presumably his wife Else (nee Cronheim) almost has him in embrace, one hand on his right arm, with her left almost on his shoulder. More here. |
Ernst and Else Collin were deported to Auschwitz on December 9th, 1942 and murdered there. But, their horrors started much earlier, officially with the rise to power of the Nazis in 1933, and their systematic exclusion from public places, education, their places of work, their ability to live their lives freely, and so much more.
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| III) Transportliste: 24. Osttransport mit 1061 gelisteten Namen in das KL Auschwitz, 09.12.1942. Note the Israel or Sara in the name. These were added by the Nazis to all Jewish individuals. Page from the Transportliste for the 24th deportation from Berlin to Auschwitz, 12.9.1942. The address for the Collins is from the Judenhaus at Aschaffenburgerstr. 6 in Berlin where they were picked up, most likely the now yellow building. Image of the Transportliste from the Arolsen Archives. |
From there they were taken to the freight station in Moabit where a memorial was dedicated to those deported to their deaths. Other information links their deportation train to "Gleis 17" of the Bahnhof Grunewald and to their deaths. That platform is now a memorial with the dates of the transport in steel as part of the platform. More here. The Deutsche Reichsbahn (German railways) was very complicit in these transports, and created this as a "central memorial" to those deported and the role of the railway.
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| Detail from the memorial by Axel Mauruszat. |
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| Photo Gerhard Schumm, 4.1.2014 |
Google Maps recently updated its Streetview images for Berlin, and the Stolpersteine can finally be seen, sort of.
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| Detail from Google Streetview of Cicerostr 61 in Berlin. |
