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Listen "Mindell Dubansky, "A Parallel History of Books and Blooks," 2 June 2025"
Episode Synopsis
This talk by Mindell Dubansky was part of Rare Book School's 2025 Summer Lecture Series. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/SsTUbRhUYDs?feature=shared.
๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฎ๐น๐ธ:
Throughout the world, for hundreds of years, people have expressed themselves by making plain and decorated objects in imitation of specific titles and types of books. No genre of book or bookbinding has been ignored. Mindell Dubansky calls these objects ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด, a contraction of book-look. History has shown that infusing an object with bookish characteristics creates an emotional attachment to the object analogous to our feelings for a beloved or important book. This, in turn, increases our desire to own, share, and treasure our book-shaped objects. Love, friendship, humor, play, faith, enlightenment, and commemoration are all common and abiding themes of blooks. Dubanskyโs lecture will touch on some of the areas in which real books and book-like objects most closely intersect. These include how the bookbinding trade was involved in making blooks, how blook-making followed publishing trends and popular titles, how disused books have historically been repurposed as blooks, and how the idea of the book has been translated into a myriad of unexpected objects by artists and inventors. Dubanskyโs curated show on blooks for the Center for Book Arts in New York was profiled earlier this year by ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด: https://www.nytimes.com/.../review/bo....
๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Mindell Dubansky is Conservator at Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the author of numerous books and exhibition catalogs on the book and paper arts. These include ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต: 200 ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด (2025); ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด: ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ง๐ต (online catalog); ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ: ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ (2024); ๐๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ: ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ (2023); ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต (2016); and ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ (2008). Dubansky's personal collection of book objects and her groundbreaking research on the subject have previously featured in exhibitions at the Grolier Club and Metropolitan Museum of Art, in publications including ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, and on television shows such as CBS' ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. To facilitate research in the study of book objects, she has established the Blook Institute, a series of activities designed to promote the study of book objects, and their relation to book history, the book arts, material culture, and art history.
๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฎ๐น๐ธ:
Throughout the world, for hundreds of years, people have expressed themselves by making plain and decorated objects in imitation of specific titles and types of books. No genre of book or bookbinding has been ignored. Mindell Dubansky calls these objects ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด, a contraction of book-look. History has shown that infusing an object with bookish characteristics creates an emotional attachment to the object analogous to our feelings for a beloved or important book. This, in turn, increases our desire to own, share, and treasure our book-shaped objects. Love, friendship, humor, play, faith, enlightenment, and commemoration are all common and abiding themes of blooks. Dubanskyโs lecture will touch on some of the areas in which real books and book-like objects most closely intersect. These include how the bookbinding trade was involved in making blooks, how blook-making followed publishing trends and popular titles, how disused books have historically been repurposed as blooks, and how the idea of the book has been translated into a myriad of unexpected objects by artists and inventors. Dubanskyโs curated show on blooks for the Center for Book Arts in New York was profiled earlier this year by ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด: https://www.nytimes.com/.../review/bo....
๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Mindell Dubansky is Conservator at Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the author of numerous books and exhibition catalogs on the book and paper arts. These include ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต: 200 ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด (2025); ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด: ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ง๐ต (online catalog); ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ: ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ (2024); ๐๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ: ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ (2023); ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต (2016); and ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ (2008). Dubansky's personal collection of book objects and her groundbreaking research on the subject have previously featured in exhibitions at the Grolier Club and Metropolitan Museum of Art, in publications including ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, and on television shows such as CBS' ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. To facilitate research in the study of book objects, she has established the Blook Institute, a series of activities designed to promote the study of book objects, and their relation to book history, the book arts, material culture, and art history.
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