I work at a high school library. It’s not a straightforward high school library– it’s a boarding prep school, so the kids are smart, and the library is used as a combination reference library and reading/public library by the students, the faculty, and the families that live on campus. One of my tasks is overseeing the Archives, which is managed by an emeritus faculty member (he is an amazing guy– he fought in WWII and has taught here for over 50 years). Although the Archives contain some interesting items, it’s mostly photographs of students and alumni gatherings, which I am very slowly digitizing and putting on Flickr. That’s all fine and good, but I went to library school to think about how to digitally archive unique materials, especially artists’ books, especially 3-dimensional artists’ books.
Well, today the Book Arts Gods smiled on me, and my archivist unearthed, unwrapped, and bestowed upon me this insane little book. Apologies for the picture quality– I only have my iPad with me. The text is about the evils the Devill [sic] has brought upon the author:
I don’t know anything about this book except the recipient listed on the address label used to be employed here. The archivist contacted him to see if he wanted the book back, and he doesn’t.
Jessica Smith
um, wow. Not to be a total know-nothing, but what *is* it? And who is GV?
It’s a mystery! The book has a charred wood cover and the pages are charred, but only around the edges, like the charring is intentional. Judging from the condition of the paper, the shoelace-like binding thread, and the modern spelling and punctuation, I think this is a fairly recent text (like, 20th C).
I added the text to the pictures now if you’re curious about what it says. It’s very entertaining!
Kewl. will look at it later, as I’m really supposed to be checking DDC numbas.
Yeah, I’m supposed to be cataloging…