Past Standards Committee Chairs
Donald Etherington (1979-1986)
- William Anthony (1987-1988)
- Monique Lallier (1989-2000)
- Pam Barrios (2001-2002)
- Nancy Lev-Alexander (2002-2006)
- Christopher McAfee (2006-present)
Their planning and organization has resulted in the present format of expert craftspeople teaching and demonstrating to small seminar groups of no more than 35 participants.
This highly successful format has inspired many Guild of Book Workers members to pursue the many crafts of book arts in a serious and professional way.
We thought you might enjoy reading the report from the Guild of Book Workers Newsletter of the first Seminar on Standards of Excellence, and we've included a roster of all the presentations held to date.
May the next 20 years be equally inspiring.
Pamela Barrios
(Prepared for the Rocky Mountain Chapter when they hosted the 20th Standards in Salt Lake City in October, 2000, and updated as needed.)
Past Presentations
1982 - Washington, DC
- Thomas Albro: Conservation Binding
- William Anthony: Restoration Binding
- David Bourbeau: Limited Edition Binding
- Hedi Kyle: Artists' Books
- Heinke Pensky-Adams: Designer Binding
- Read a review of the first Standards Seminar
1983 - Boston, Massachusetts
- Samuel Ellenport: Materials - Leather & Cloth
- Jean Gunner: Materials - Paper & Adhesives
- Donald Etherington: Guarding and Endpaper Construction
- Deborah Evetts: Binding Styles
- Peter Waters & Franklin J. Mowery: Sewing Structures
1984 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Donald Etherington: Paring Leather Covers
- Hugo Peller: Edge Gilding & Gauffering
- Heinke Pensky-Adams: Covering with Vellum Over Stiff Boards
- Michael Wilcox & Donald Glaister: Gold Tooling and Using Gold Leaf
- Tini Miura & Hugo Peller: Lecturers
1985 - San Francisco, California
- Donald Etherington: Paring Leather Covers
- Gary Frost: Paper Cover Case Construction
- Silvia Rennie: Half Vellum Over Stiff Boards
- Michael Wilcox & Gerard Charriere: Gold Tooling Using Gold Leaf
1985 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- William Anthony: Covering Fine Bindings in Full Leather
- David Brock: Tool Sharpening
- Jerilyn Davis: Rebacking Cloth Bindings
- Hedi Kyle: Expandable Piano Hinge Album
1986 - Iowa City, Iowa
- William Anthony: Doublures, Endpapers, & Leather Hinges
- Paula Gourley: Paper Marbling on Gouache
- Scott Kellar: Book Enclosures
- Michelle Rome-Hyacinthe: French Sewing & Forwarding Techniques
1987 - Austin, Texas
- Jenny Hille: Headbands - Historical & Contemporary
- Bruce Levy: Rebacking Leather Bindings
- Richard-Gabrielle Rummonds & Craig Jensen: Collaboration Of Printers & Binders
- Barbara Meier-James: Paper Mending
1988 - Chicago, Illinois
- Kay Amert: Letter Forms in Bookbinding Design
- Cathy Atwood: Japanese Side-Sewn Bindings
- Silvia Rennie: Gouge-Less French Onlay Techniques
- Pamela Spitzmueller: Western Through-the-Fold Sewing
1989 - Portland, Oregon
- Betsy Palmer Eldridge: Basic Paper Conservation
- Donald Guyot: Suminagashi: Japanese Marbled Paper
- Jim Croft: Making Foredge Clasps and Other Tools
- Peter Fisher: Archival Portfolio Books for Photographs
- Mary Lou Florian: Speaker
1990 - Washington, DC
- James Brockman: Rebacking Leather Bindings
- Monique Lallier: Edge-To-Edge Doublures
- Tini Miura: French Onlay Technique & Gilding
- Franklin J. Mowery: Techniques & Logic Of German Bookbinding
- Deborah Evetts: Speaker
1991 - Bloomington, Indiana
- Hedi Kyle: Special Enclosures
- David Bourbeau: The Refinements of Case Binding
- Donald Glaister: Binding Design & Unusual Materials
- Donald Etherington: Conservation Treatments
1992 - San Francisco, California
- Daniel Kelm: Boxmaking
- Bernard Middleton: Rebacking a Leather Tight-Back Book
- Jan Sabota: Box & Sculptural Bindings
- Claire Van Vliet: The Making Of A Book - Bone Songs
1993 - Boston, Massachusetts
- Betsy Palmer Eldridge: Sewing Variations
- Sun Evrard: Simplified Binding Structure
- Claire Maziarczyk: Pastepaper - Traditional & Contemporary
- William Minter: Using the Hot Stamping Press
1994 - Dallas, Texas
- Timothy C. Ely: Design Applications & Possibilities.
- Robert Espinosa: Modified Limp Vellum Binding
- Franklin J. Mowery: Mending Vellum Bindings
- Eleanore Ramsey: In Search of Elegance: Board Edges Redefined
- Decherd Turner: Speaker
1995 - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Elaine Schlefer: Rx for Sick Books from NYAM
- Mindell Dubansky & Priscilla Spitler: Contemporary Edition Binding
- John Hyltoft: Danish Millimeter Binding
- John Mitchell: Edge Gilding
- Speaker: Colin Franklin
1996 - Pasadena, California
- Jan Sabota: Cuir Cisele or Leather Schnitt
- Richard Horton: Opening Up Photo Album Possibilities
- Louise Genest: Exposed Spine Binding
- Terry Buckley: Dyeing & Staining Leather
- Monsiegnor Weber: Speaker
1997 - Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Pamela Spitzmueller: Long & Link Stitch Binding
- Dag-Ernst Petersen: How To Treat Wooden Boards
- Donald Glaister: Gold Tooling
- Nancy Jacobi & Donald Etherington: Japanese Papers - Identifying & Using
- Jan Van Der Marck: Speaker
1998 - Greensboro, North Carolina
- Carol Barton: Paper Engineering & Pop-Ups
- Anthony Cains: On The Ellesmere Manuscript - Preparing For Facsimile & Repair
- Linda Hohneke: Decorative Papers
- Linda Blaser & Franklin J. Mowery: English & German Style Leather Paring
- William Ballinger: Speaker
1999 - Chicago, Illinois
- Maureen Duke: Action on the Case
- Jesse Munn, Terry Boone & Mary Wooton: Know Your Endpapers!
- Daniel Kelm: Wire-Edge Binding
- Scott Kellar: Rounded Leather Drop-Spine Boxes
- Audrey Niffenegger: Speaker
- Studs Terkel: Speaker
- Betsy Palmer Eldridge: Foundations Workshop On Paste, Paper And Cloth
2000 - Salt Lake City, Utah
- Pamela Spitzmueller: Girdle Bindings
- Gabrielle Fox: Miniature Bindings
- Terry Buckley: Medieval Binding Techniques
- Karen Zukor: Adhesives
- William Minter: Tool Time! Sharpening Knives & Other Useful Ideas
- Joy And John Tonkin: Speakers
- Betsy Palmer Eldridge: Foundations Workshop on Leather (bibliography is online).
2001 - Alexandria, Virginia
- Jiri Vnoucek: Romanesque Bindings
- Christine Smith: Paper Repair
- Peter Verheyen: Vellum Binding
- S.A. Neff Jr.: Leather Decoration
- Suzanne Moore: Traditional Foundations Of Non-Traditional Artwork
- Willman Spawn: Speaker at the Opening Reception
- Will Noel: On Illuminated Manuscripts at the Banquet
2002 - Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Bridget O'Malley: Paper Making Before and After: Pulp, Paper & Beyond
- Dennis Ruud: Illumination
- Monique Lallier: Chemise & Slipcase
- Olivia Primanis: Historical & Contemporary Album Structures
- Cindy Haller: Foundations Workshop on The History of Western Lettering
- Carol Marrin: Keynote Speaker (Saint John's Bible Project)
- Friday Night Forum:
- Pamela Barrios: Incorporating Original Spine Fragments into Repair Material
- Donia Conn: The Molded Paper Spine
- Betsy Eldridge: The Checkerboard Album Structure
- Barbara Korbel: 3D Objects on Book Covers
- Monique Lallier: Chemise & Slipcase
- William Minter: Tool Time
- Brenda Parsons: Two Tool Jigs
- Elaine Schlefer: Board Attachement for Leather Bound Books
- Priscilla Spitler: Jurying for Exhibitions
- Peter Verheyen & Donia Conn: The Springback Binding
- Edna Wright: Starting Your Own Business
2003 - Denver, Colorado
- Richard Baker: Spring Back Ledger Bindings
- Julie Chen: Presentation Considerations in the Design and Creation of Artist's Books
- Mark Esser: Covering in Leather
- Tini Miura: Incorporating 3-Dimensional Objects into Cover Design
- Claire Maziarczyk: Getting the Look: The 4 "P's" Of Pastepaper Patterns
- Craig Jensen: Foundations Workshop on Box Making
2004 - Providence, Rhode Island
- Peter Geraty: Edge Decoration Techniques
- Mark Andersson: Half-leather Trade Binding
- Kiyoshi Imai: Japanese Pouch/Four Hole Binding
- Adam Larsson: Medieval Limp Vellum/Leather Structure
- Nancy Southworth: Conservation of Historic Bindings Using Adhesive and Non-adhesive Methods
- P.J. Saine: Foundations Workshop on Photographing Your Artwork
2005 - Portland, Oregon
- Paul Delrue: Lacunose (An Artistic Invention of Leather)
- Timothy Ely: The Drumleaf Binding
- Hedi Kyle: Wunderkabinette: Architectural Book Environments
- Renate Mesmer: Edelpappband (Paper Binding)
- Peggy Skycraft: Traditional Marbling on Paper, Cloth and Leather
- Inge Bruggeman: Foundations Workshop on Letterpress Printing by Handset Metal and Photopolymer Plate
2006 - Centennial Celebration - New York City, New York
There was no Standards Seminar held in 2006. Rather, the Guild held a celebration honoring our organiziation's 100th birthday. The focus was "The Art of the Book in America" and included a two day conference on the history of the Guild and bookbinding in the United States; the opening of the Guild's 100th Anniversary Members Exhibition and Retrospective Exhibition; a dinner cruise around Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty; and many other exciting events. Pictures and reviews are available in the December 2006 and February 2007 GBW Newsletter.
2007 - Dallas, Texas
The format of this year's Standards was different from pervious years. There was the optional Foundation's session before the Seminar began. There were three presentations which all participants attended. Finally, there were three "Roundup" Sessions, of which everyone picked two.
- Stuart Brockman: Gold Leaf Tooling on Leather
- Roberta Lavadour: Original Binding Structures and Decorations
- Chela Metzer: Creating Medieval Stationer's Binding Structures
- Catherine Burkhard: Plain-Jane Restoration - Making Books Functional (Roundup)
- Keith Owens: Design Principles and the Book (Roundup)
- Priscilla Spitler: Behind the Design (Roundup)
- Kitty Maryatt: Foundations Workshop on Practical Strategies for Editions
2008 - Toronto, Ontario
This year's Standards was co-hosted by the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG).
- Martha Cole: Contemporary Applications of Wheat Paste on Cloth
- Betsy Palmer Eldridge: Sixty Sewing Structures
- Don Etherington: Alum Tawed Bindings
- Claire Van Vliet: In Love with Paper
- Michael Wilcox: Finishing Tools
- There was no Foundations Workshop this year
2009 - San Francisco, California
- Carolee Campbell: Methods of Approach for Artists Books
- Tom Conroy: Tool Repair
- Tatiana Ginsberg: Dyeing Handmade Papers
- Dominic Riley: The Art and Science of Cloth Rebacking – Some Useful Techniques Shared
- 2009 Vendors and Supporters
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