Off Topic - Newberry Library - Donald Jackson

As I was browsing online trying to find what to look at at the Newberry, it dawned on me to search Donald Jackson and *bingo.* There were some of the regular published books that he has authored and then there was this one. Oh.My.Gosh. It was the highlight of the whole visit. 

Photos are OK, but you really need to see the actual pages to appreciate the work. It was a gift from Sarah to Alistair McAlpine - their initials are in raised gilding on parchment. The pages are paper - translated Persian poetry. You can read all about Alistair on Wikipedia. He was a colorful figure. He and Sarah divorced. Wikipedia says: In the mid 1980s, for reasons of safety and tax, McAlpine decided to move to Monaco and Venice. Before his departure he had sold many of his possessions at Sotheby's.^[3]

Maybe that's when the Newberry bought the book. Of course, it would be fun to know how much a book like this cost originally and then how much the Newberry paid for it. It's leather bound by Fred Wood. I tried to link to the page with info at the Newberry, but you have to sign on and create an account to surf through their info.

I like the way all the pages have the same margin on the bottom, and different amounts of white space on top. Such a simple idea. It's a good example of a design idea that you could tuck in your file of ideas and pull out as needed. 

Hopefully this will inspire people to check out the Newberry if they are ever in the neighborhood.

Off-Topic Newberry Library Books - Book of Hours

In June, I took time off from my grandkids to visit the Newberry Library. It is in Chicago and is one of very few (maybe 3?) libraries in the country that is private and welcomes anyone who has an interest in their collection to show up, jump through a couple very easy hoops - and then look at some really amazing books, papers, documents, and artwork.

You can go to their website and browse around to see what kinds of things they own. There are two reading rooms. One is for the general collection. The other is the special collection which means someone has to go into the vault and bring the item. I could bore you to tears with details about the vault.

I wanted to look at some manuscript books. The old books, written by hand by scribes. It was hard to figure out which ones to request. I just chose two random books that were in my search for: Book of Hours. I need to do more research about which ones to request. But the two I saw were lovely. This one happened to be in the process of being conserved - but they still brought it out. It was in a plexiglas holder (with the green padding) so that it could only be opened very slightly. The other one opened wider.

More photos below. I highly recommend the Newberry - if you are going to be in Chicago and have a couple hours. Contact me directly if you want to know more about how to plan a trip.

The two books I looked at were a

prayer book of Margaret of Croy (1430-1450) from Flanders
and another book of hours that was from 1400-1450 - French - of undetermined use.
Both were labeled *Catholic Church* under author.

I just love the really fine doodle type designs. They seem so contemporary. I'd really like to know why they are so free form and random. 

Of course I am drawn to the random doodles on the borders. And the gilding is so bright and shiny. Looks brand new.

Note written on the back inside cover. It would be fun to know what's written.

Kathy Schneider was with me and she told me why there is a serpent dinosaur at the top - but I have forgotten. I'm sorry Kathy...Teflon-Colander Syndrome. The pages had been trimmed which is too bad.