Gala Preview

• Thursday, November 15, 5:30-9:30 pm

Enjoy fine food, delicious wine, festive music, and of course, the first choice of a dazzling array of fine art. Complimentary catalog and re-admission throughout the weekend. Valet parking available. All proceeds benefit Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc. For tickets, call 617-266-1200 or visit www.bso.org/BIFAS

Weekend Show

• Friday, November 16, 1-9:00 pm
• Saturday, November 17, 11 am - 8 pm
• Sunday 11 am - 5 pm

Admission: $12 at the door (under 12 Free)

Special Programs

• Friday Evening: New Collectors Night - 6-9:00 pm - Special programs designed to introduce new collectors to the world of fine art, and a chance to “Meet the Artists.” Special Program, “Editor’s Choice”: Join Joshua Rose, Editor, American Art Collector; and Peter Trippi, Editor, Fine Art Connoisseur for their commentaries and insights into selected works on view at the show.
• Saturday and Sunday: Special Guest Speakers (free with admission)
  Saturday, 2:00 pm - “The Art of Art Restoration”
  Sunday, 2:00 pm - “Insuring, Valuing and Documenting Your Collection

For exhibitor and general show information: 617-363-0405 or www.fineartboston.com

The Boston International Fine Art Show is produced by Fusco & Four/Ventures, LLC, Boston.

Historic and Stylistic Overview of the World of Japanese Books, Charles Vilnis

Charles Vilnis of Boston Book Company has been in pursuit of Japanese illustrated books throughout his career. As an undergraduate in the early 1970s, he studied Japanese history, then apprenticed at a Japanese trading company for a few years and has been specializing in Japanese books and printing as a bookseller since before he joined the ABAA in 1980. A long stint as a graduate student in Japanese art and literature honed his skills. Now, he spends a good part of each year traveling in Japan, searching for rarities and researching the field.

Over the course of the last few years, a growing appreciation for the book arts has increased awareness of one of the oldest book cultures on earth, that of East Asia and particularly, Japan. The wonderful exhibit and catalogue created around the extensive collection of Japanese ehon (illustrated books) at the NYPL, as curated by Roger Keyes, was an important step in understanding the importance of the visual in that tradition. In addition, recent valuable work digitizing MFA Boston’s hitherto neglected collection of Japanese illustrated books and the well-received Ito Jakuchu show in Philadelphia have further advanced interest in the intersection between the artist and book, traditionally and contemporaneously, in Japan.

Charles will bring slides and photographs to illustrate his overview, historical and stylistic, of the world of Japanese books. Attendees will also be afforded the chance to view a group of representative works from the several periods and styles he will be discussing, and there will be opportunities to ask questions about the field in general and about the books presented in particular.

The illustration that accompanies this note is from Ito Jakuchu’s woodblock-printed TAIGADO GAFU, published in 1804, one of the loveliest examples of the Japanese Nanga genre in illustrated books.

“Thrilling, charming and altogether a knockout.” - Variety.com

MacArthur Award-winner and Obie-award Graphic novelist Ben Katchor and critically acclaimed composer Mark Mulcahy’s sung through pop musical chronicles the life and times of brothers Abe and Philip Rosenbach who were the most famous dealers in rare books and antique artifacts in America. Mixing projected animated images with live actors, singers and musicians, The Rosenbach Company explores issues such as the obsessive nature of collecting, the relationship between cultural and commercial pursuits and the Rosenbach’s historical significance as the owners of the world’s greatest literary treasures.

Katchor will present his brilliant, illustrated pop musical The Rosenbach Company on Saturday, November 17 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, November 18 at 2:00 pm. Performances take place at the Jewish Theatre of New England located at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, 333 Nahanton Street in Newton.

To purchase tickets, call 617-965-5226 or visit www.lsjcc.org. Special discounted $24 tickets for convention attendees - please identify yourself at point of purchase.

Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures, Anne Bromer

Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures, by Anne Bromer and noted collector Julian Edison, is the first comprehensive and accessible survey of this under-the-radar genre of book publishing. Published in association with the Grolier Club of New York, it features a foreword by ardent collector and well-known retailer, the late Stanley Marcus, and a preface by Eric Holzenberg, Director and Librarian of the Grolier Club. The book is divided into nine major subject chapters, with an additional 14 vignettes that provide insightful stories about miniature books and the people who produced and used them. Bromer’s and Edison’s years of collecting, researching, writing and discoursing on miniature books have produced a lively yet scholarly work that is the culmination of a long association.

Engaging, artful and even eccentric, miniature books are finely crafted examples of the bookmaker’s art. They were produced for reasons of practicality, ease of transport, aesthetics, curiosity and even secrecy. The history of these small bibliographic wonders is traced from medieval manuscripts to Shakespeare’s plays as well as bibles, children’s books and political propaganda. These examples include the first edition in book form of the Emancipation Proclamation, published at just over three inches in height, and the only contemporary book edition of this pivotal text; the tiny Bloem-Hofje Door from 1674, whose status as the smallest printed book in the world stood until the late nineteenth century; and Dr. Charles Knowlton’s anonymously published Fruits of Philosophy, which was the first American medical handbook on the subject of contraception.

With over 260 full-color illustrations, most of which are shown actual size, Miniature Books is, in the words of Publisher’s Weekly, “… a feast for the eyes … .” The New York Times observed that “The books are small, but the subject is surprisingly big …,” and Rob Rulon-Miller, reviewing the book for the ABAA Newletter, sees a text that “is brimming with enthusiasm and excitement,” and a book that is “a worthy companion” to some of the key bibliographic work on the subject.

Anne C. Bromer and her husband David Bromer are internationally respected rare book dealers in Boston. Bromer Booksellers is located in Boston’s Back Bay across the street from the Boston Public Library. Anne Bromer fell under the spell of miniature books for the first time 35 years ago in an old wooden tool chest. “I was entranced with these lovely volumes then and remain delighted with them decades later.” Bromer Booksellers has published 14 miniature books and issued scores of catalogues on the subject.

Sunday, November 18, 2007,  11:00 AM
   Fine Books & Manuscripts 

Visit www.skinnerinc.com or call 617-350-5400 for more information.

Formerly the Conservator of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, James Reid-Cunningham is currently the Chief Conservator of the Boston Athenaeum, a private membership library founded in 1807, and the President of the Guild of Book Workers.

Reid-Cunningham studied history and art history at Johns Hopkins University and Tufts University before beginning his career in book conservation at Harvard. He studied bookbinding at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, where he received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006. He is also a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.

He has taught bookbinding and conservation workshops for the Paper and Book Intensive at seven institutions across the country. In addition to his conservation work, he is also the creator of design bindings and book objects that explore traditional bookbinding structures in conjunction with modern materials such as rubber and Formica. He is the proprietor of Hematite Press, a small press that publishes illustrated limited editions of modern texts, with each copy in an original design binding. He has exhibited his books nationally and internationally.

• Ruth Rogers, Special Collections Librarian at Wellesley College

A Special Collections Librarian at Wellesley College, Ruth Rogers administers a collection of over 40,000 items, including rare books, medieval and renaissance manuscripts, modern fine press books, and contemporary artists’ books.

She makes the collection available to students and faculty, giving frequent lectures to visiting classes on the history of the book and artists’ books. With the goal of inter-departmental collaboration, she created “Papyrus to Print to Pixel,” a new course that explores the evolution of written communication technology over 5,000 years. The course received the Apgar Award for Teaching Excellence at the College.

A serious collector and promoter of artists’ books, Rogers organized ABC: the Artists’ Books Conference, held in June 2005 at Wellesley College, and published the related exhibition catalog, Resonance and Response. Most recently, she was the juror and guest curator of the national exhibition Beyond Words: Artists’ Books at the University of the South, in Sewanee, TN.

• Nancy Leavitt, Book Artist

Nancy Leavitt is a calligrapher specializing in hand-lettered manuscript books. Her work is represented in many prestigious private and public collections. As Calligraphy Correspondent for the Guild of Book Workers, she writes about lettering and book arts for the newsletter. She has received several artist grants from the Maine Arts Commission for her research into the history of her craft, and in 2002 she received the Stephen Harvard Award for book design.

A film critic at the Los Angeles Times for fifteen years, Kenny Turan is the author of several books, including 2006’s Now In Theaters Everywhere: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Blockbuster; 2004’s Never Coming to a Theater Near You: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie; and 2002’s Sundance to Sarajevo: Film Festivals and the World They Made. 

Kenny is the film critic for National Public Radio’s Friday broadcast “Morning Edition” and the director of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes; he lives in Los Angeles.

• Kevin Johnson, author and bookseller

In his new book, The Dark Page: Books that Inspired American Film Noir 1940-1949, Kevin Johnson presents a comprehensive collector’s guide to first edition literary sources for the era’s first decade, the 1940s. The book covers in detail over 150 films and their sources, including information on the authors, characteristics about each book’s adaptation into film, and the first edition sources complete with full-page, color images of each.

With a foreword by film Paul Schrader, the book serves as film scholars’ most cited source of inspiration for the resurgence of film noir beginning in the 1970s. Schrader wrote the screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, and has put his own noir sensibility into many of the films he has directed, such as Light Sleeper, Affliction, and Autofocus.

Published by Oak Knoll in November 2007.