Friday, April 02, 2010

This blog has moved

A matter of housekeeping, the Interweb has required a minor update to the blog URL.

Please note this blog is now located at http://blog.alcuinsociety.com/

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A tribute in honour of the late Jim Rimmer

W.A.C. BENNETT LIBRARY
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Special Collections & Rare Books

Cordially invite you to attend

A RECEPTION &
TRIBUTE CEREMONY

in honour of the late

JIM RIMMER

Distinguished type designer,
typographer, printer,
teacher & jazz enthusiast

Sunday 25 April 2010
2 pm to 4 pm

at SFU Vancouver
Harbour Centre Campus
Segal Centre
515 West Hastings
Vancouver, BC

Light refreshments will be served

RSVP your attendance no later than 15 April by contacting Eric Swanick at
778.782.4626
eswanick@sfu.ca

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Canada's 30 best-designed books: 2010 winners

Vancouver, BC - On behalf of The Alcuin Society, this year's judges (Marian Bantjes, Linda Gustafson, and Peter Koch) have selected 30 winning titles for the 28th annual Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The books were chosen from 252 Canadian entries published in 2009, from 9 provinces and 108 publishers.

The Alcuin Award winning books will be exhibited internationally: in Germany, at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fairs; in England, at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library and the Norwich University College of the Arts; and in Japan, at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, in conjunction with the Tokyo International Book Fair. The books will also be exhibited in 19 venues across Canada. They will compete in the international book design competition in Leipzig, Germany in February 2011.

This year's winners are:

CHILDREN
First prize: ROBERT CHAPLIN and SIAN PAIRAUDEAU, designers of Brussels Sprouts & Unicorns: a Book of Rhymes by Robert Chaplin (Robert Chaplin)
Second prize: ELISA GUTIÉRREZ, designer of The Kalevala: Tales of Magic and Adventure by Kirsti Mäkinen, translated by Kaarina Brooks (Simply Read Books)
Third prize: GRACE PARTRIDGE, designer of Ella's Umbrellas by Jennifer Lloyd (Simply Read Books)
Honourable mentions: MICHAEL SOLOMON, designer both of Alego by Ningeokuluk Teevee (Groundwood Books) and of City Alphabet by Joanne Schwartz (Groundwood Books).

LIMITED EDITIONS
First prize: CHARLES MAYRS and DAVID CLIFFORD, designers of British Columbia: In Light and Dark by Charles Mayrs (Charles Mayrs)
Second prize: JARRETT MORRISON, designer of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (The Bowler Press)
Third prize: GABRIELLA SOLTI, designer of The Sensory Delights of Text by Gabriella Solti (Gabriella Solti)
Honourable mentions: JUDITH POIRIER, designer of Dialogue by Judith Poirier (Judith Poirier), and JASON DEWINETZ, designer of This (And That Was That) by JonArno Lawson (Greenboathouse Press).

PICTORIAL
First prize: STUDIO FEED, designers of Far East, Far West by Benoit Aquin (les éditions du passage)
Second prize: ALAN BROWNOFF, designer of Emblems of Empire: Selections from the Mactaggart Art Collection by John E. Vollmer & Jaqueline Simcox (The University of Alberta Press)
Third prize: SUSAN COLBERG, designer of Synergies 2009: Prints from the University of Alberta (Dept. of Art & Design, University of Alberta).

POETRY
First prize: ANDREW STEEVES & ROBERT BRINGHURST, designers of Selected Poems by Robert Bringhurst (Gaspereau Press)
Second prize: ANDREW STEEVES, designer of Lean-to by Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen (Gaspereau Press)
Third prize: NICOLE LAFOND, designer of J'partirai by François Hébert (les éditions du passage).

PROSE FICTION
First prize: ANDREW STEEVES, designer of The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud (Gaspereau Press)
Second prize: PETER COCKING, designer of Daniel O'Thunder by Ian Weir (Douglas & McIntyre).

PROSE NON-FICTION
First prize: ANDREW STEEVES, designer of The Marram Grass by Anne Simpson (Gaspereau Press)
Second prize: ROBERT BRINGHURST, designer of At the River's Mouth by Daphne Marlatt (Institute for Coastal Research, Vancouver Island University)
Third prize: ANDREW STEEVES, designer of A Sound Like Water Dripping: In Search of the Boreal Owl by Soren Bondrup-Nielsen (Gaspereau Press)
Honourable mentions: ROBERTO DOSIL (cover) and M. PAGE (interior), designers both of The Story Behind the Book by Laura Millar (Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing (CCSP) Press) and Translators on Translating by Andrew Wilson (CCSP Press).

PROSE NON-FICTION ILLUSTRATED
First prize: CS RICHARDSON, designer of The Bedside Book of Beasts by Graeme Gibson (Doubleday Canada)
Second prize: PETER COCKING, designer of The Men who Killed Me edited by Anne-Marie de Brouwer & Sandra Ka Hon Chu (Douglas & McIntyre)
Third prize (tie): NAOMI MACDOUGALL, designer of Six String Nation by Jowi Taylor (Douglas & McIntyre)
Third prize (tie): BOB BECK, designer of Comestible/Edible: l'aliment comme matériau/Food as Material by Diane Leclair Bisson (les éditions du passage).

REFERENCE
First prize: SKIPP DESIGN, INC., designers of Living Proof: the Essential Data-Collection Guide for Indigenous Use-and-Occupancy Map Surveys by Terry N. Tobias (Ecotrust Canada/UBCIC)
Second prize: UNIFORM, designers of Connaître les droits de l'enfant by Bureau international des droits des enfants (IBCR) (Les éditions de la courte échelle)
Third prize: NAOMI MACDOUGALL, designer of Araxi: Seasonal Recipes from the Celebrated Whistler Restaurant by James Walt (Douglas & McIntyre).

Congratulations to all the winners!

(I've added links to nearly all the winner's publisher webpages ~ if anyone has an updated link, feel free to post a comment and I'll aim to update the links!)

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Reminder: Two upcoming lectures by Peter Rutledge Koch next week

Some metal type, a photo from peterkochprinters.com

Just a friendly reminder; we're looking forward to not one but two opportunities to hear Peter Rutledge Koch speak next week, first with a lecture on Thursday evening, March 25, followed by a second lecture on Friday afternoon, March 26. This will be a rare and opportunity to meet an internationally renowned artist with an abounding love of the book. From his website:
In pursuit of my art, I am deeply committed to the crafts of typography, papermaking, printing, bookbinding and the design of books and I support these crafts as intensely as I can. A duality of commitment defines my art. I firmly stand on the side of the argument that there is no art without craft. Art without craft denies the difficult beauty of a thing well made, the elegant simplicity of an idea. Through craft and the precision of design, I seek to bring the rich civilization of the printed book with me to the forge of meaning.
If you have friends with an appreciation for art, craft, and ideas, be sure to spread the word!

"Printing in the Shadow of Aldus"
by Peter Koch
Place: Simon Fraser University Downtown Campus, Harbour Centre
Fletcher Challenge Room
Vancouver, BC
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public.

"Fine Printing and the Imagination"
by Peter Koch
Place: University of British Columbia
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
The Dodson Room
Vancouver, BC
Friday, March 26th, 2010
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

A Wake for Duthie Books


Last month was a difficult month for book lovers in Vancouver. After 53 years in the business of books, Duthie Books Fourth Avenue announced it was going to close. Sadly, this type of occurrence happens way, way, way more often than it should.

To officially pay respects to the local bookseller, The Shebeen Club is hosting a wake to honour Duthie Books on February 15, 2010. Tickets are available online, and the price includes dinner and a drink. With proceeds going to the Strathcona One to One Literacy program, the event is likely to sell out in advance, so act quickly. See this blog for more info. This is not an official Alcuin event, but all book lovers are welcome to attend!

The Alcuin Society has held much respect for Duthies, and 3 years ago, the Society published a limited edition volume featuring fifty years of Duthie's bookmarks created by a who’s who of West Coast artists including Jack Shadbolt, Takao Tanabe, Celia King, Carel Moiseiwitsch and 20 others. This deluxe limited edition book has since sold out. For those who missed out on the book, we're pleased to announce we've just received word that Celia Duthie has agreed to reminisce and provide a potted history of Duthies at our upcoming AGM on June 14, 2010. Stay tuned for more info.

To conclude this post, here's an excerpt from the Duthie Books blog announcing the closure:
We have had 53 (mostly) happy years of bookselling in Vancouver. We have offered friendly recommendations, and stocked good books. For 53 years Duthies has provided a good book service to the city, championed BC and Canadian books, encouraged the public to read local writers, and helped to create a knowledgeable reading public. The book culture of Vancouver and BC has grown up and flourished around Duthies from publisher's reps to publishing houses , authors, illustrators, designers, printers, literary festivals, and university writing and publishing programs have emerged in the Duthies milieu and many Duthies alumni work in all parts of the book trade.

Thank you and Good bye

Everybody knows that Independent bookstores have been under pressure from the 'big box' operations for many years now and it is clear that it is not going to get any better; the likes of Chapters, and Amazon are ruthless in their drive for market share and we cannot compete on price anymore. The book itself is in the throes of a technological transformation and book readers undergoing a major demographic shift.

We are closing now while we can do so in an orderly fashion and not under any pressure from banks or suppliers. Duthies went through a radical restructuring 10 years ago and frankly, we do not want to go through that again.

Our last annual sale starts Thursday January 28 with 40% off everything and further reductions in the following weeks. Please use your gift certificates before the end of February.

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Friday, January 29, 2010

Fine Printing and the Imagination: another upcoming lecture by Peter Koch

The University of British Columbia Library and The Alcuin Society are pleased to announce an upcoming lecture entitled, "Fine Printing and the Imagination". The speaker is Peter Rutledge Koch, artist, printer, writer, and publisher of fine editions and artist books. He will describe and discuss his major work.

Currently living in Berkeley, California, Mr. Koch's work – including over 100 books, and hundreds of broadsides and prints -- is internationally known. His lengthy essay about the making of the Editions Koch Parmenides appears in Carving the Elements: A companion to The Fragments of Parmenides edited by the Canadian poet and essayist Robert Bringhurst. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at The New York Public Library, The San Francisco Public Library, The Widener Library at Harvard University, The Yellowstone Art Museum, and The University of Montana Art Museum.

More recently Mr. Koch has been artist-in-residence at the Scuola Grafica di Venezia in Venice, Italy. In 2005 he co-founded The CODEX Foundation to preserve and promote the arts of the book and is the director of the Biennial CODEX International Book Fair, Symposium, and publishing program. In addition to his creative and collaborative ventures he has taught “The Hand Made Book In Its Historical Context” at the University of California Berkeley in the departments of Visual Studies, History, and at Bancroft Library Press for the past 16 years.

Place: University of British Columbia
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
The Dodson Room
Vancouver, BC
Friday, March 26th, 2010
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public.

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