Sender: Rare book and manuscripts <EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
This from their home page <http://bindings.lib.ua.edu/about.html>: In
September 2003, The University of Alabama, University Libraries, in
partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, received
an IMLS National Leadership grant to create the digital resource,
Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books (PBO).
All academic libraries have within their holdings books bound in 19th
century decorative bindings. These materials are significant in their
place within the fabric of American history and culture, but efforts to
present these bindings in a collection that is representative of the era
as a whole and to make them available virtually, via the World Wide Web
have been limited.
PBO, a significant digital collection of decorative bindings, along with
a comprehensive glossary and guide to the elements of these objects,
will strengthen the growing interest in and create broader awareness for
this “common” object called the book.
Decorative bindings cover many of the books that people have in their
homes today, but their owners are often unaware of their cultural and
historical significance. These bindings reflect not only social and
cultural history, but bibliographic history as well.
PBO expands awareness of the book as artifact and of the role decorative
bindings play in providing a window into historical, cultural, and
industrial period of 1815-1930. This project increases the awareness of
the general public about the importance of publishers' bindings as
reflections of historical events, art movements, and the evolution of
commercial binderies.
The project will also afford students, teachers, binders, and scholars
in many different areas the opportunity to study up to 5,000 decorative
bindings from two different physical collections in a single, virtual
location.
One can look upon this project as developing a model that other
repositories can use with their own collections. PBO greatly broadens a
relatively unexplored scholarly field. This resource will encourage
interested parties to look at their own collections, and to gain an
understanding of design movements and trends both within the United
States as well as abroad, comparable to Jugendstil in Germany, Art
Nouveau in France, Arts and Crafts in England, and Glasgow School in
Scotland.
The additional resources and scholarship that are developed through the
PBO project will serve a myriad of users.
--
Bruce Tober, <books at star-dot-star dot net>
UK, +44-121-553-4284
"Wow! Texas used to be a separate country.....Why'd we change that?"
- Charlie in "Two and a Half Men"
To view our complete book inventory and save lots of money visit our Website at
<http://www.star-dot-star.net/>