On February 9, 2016, I visited John McQuillen of Printed Books and Bindings at the Morgan Library. When I left NYPL, Kyle told me to tell the Morgan that Lenox brought the first Gutenberg to the New World. Upon receiving the news, John shrugged his shoulders and said simply: we have three. Below is the ex-libris or bookplate on…
Returning to NYPL, this time to addend!
On February 5, 2016, I donated Addendum, Edition 36 to the New York Public Library. But two years before (February 12, 2014), in preparation for crafting what was to become my Addendum, I visited Kyle Triplett of NYPL Rare Books Division to research the dimensions, text block, ink, and paper of the NYPL’s Gutenberg Bible. Frankly, I was amazed I…
Cambridge accepts Edition 35 and literally addends their Gutenberg!
On August 18, I had an 11 am appointment with Jill Whitelock, Head of Special Collections at Cambridge University Library. I left London at 8:30 and arrived at a very wet and rainy Cambridge at 10:30. I happily caught a cab to the library designed in the 30s with some kind of geometrical art nouveau – can I even…
National Library of Scotland accepts Ed. 34 AND stores it with their Incunabula!
On the evening of August 13, I left Manchester and arrived late in Edinburgh during the fringe festival – a nearly obscene event schedule of dance, theater, comedy, music, and film. The streets were packed with viewers moving between venues and cafés and bars (they do this all day for three weeks?!?). My room was just a few blocks away…
John Rylands library received Addendum, Edition 33.
After leaving the British Library, it was a short walk to the Euston train station to catch a ride to Manchester to visit the John Rylands Library. Dr. Julianne Simpson was on holiday so I arranged to meet with Rebekah Lunt of Reader services. On arrival, I foolishly decided to walk to “see” the town on route. …
British Library received Edition 31 & 32
The British Library is on Euston, so on the morning of August 13, I caught the 168 bus down from Val Oriens charming garden flat. I had a 20 minute appointment with Phil Hatfield of the British library. He works in the US, Caribbean and Canadian collections department. One can begin to see how my nationality begins to structure where my…
Russian State Library accepts Edition 30!
I was unable to identify an appropriate contact on the English version of the Russian State Library website, so I had no advance appointment. I asked the guy at the hotel to translate a simple note, stating I was an artist, I was here to donate a piece of art to their Special Collections. Could (the reader) please direct me…
Austrian National library accepts Edition 2; Bibliotheque national de France rejects Edition 17 & 18!
So, This is old news from this spring but I haven’t formally posted it- BnF rejected both Addendum from their collection, with the following email: Madame L’on m’a bien transmis les deux dossiers objet de votre don . Ainsi que je le fais habituellement , je les ai transmis aux deux départements concernés qui les ont refusés et me les…
Moscow State Library Accepts Addendum, Edition 29
On August 6, I landed in Moscow at 1pm and Anna Pantza, deputy director of the Moscow State University Science Library, had agreed to meet me before 5pm. After a long wait through customs, a quick realization that English would not be useful, and the initiation to the taxi network that befriended me by directing me to the ATM, their…
Lambeth Palace likely to accept Addendum, Edition 28
So, I’m terribly behind in reporting, but on Wednesday morning, August 5th, I walked to Lambeth Palace. Luckily the tube strike didn’t complicate my plans. I met with the endearing Naomi Percival and Hugh Cahill. Their library was founded as a “public library” but the definition then was perhaps different. Its collections began by the archbishops donating…