Last Friday I was able to leave work early because I'd worked late on Thursday, and I headed home by Metro and the 921 vanpool to arrive back in Annapolis at 4. I picked up my bike and headed home in the sunlight, had a snack, and walked over to Back Creek Books to give an estimate for making a slipcase. After that it was off to have a long bike ( Read more... )

My trip to Philly last Friday went very well; I went up with my boss at MSA and a colleague from the National Archives to study an 18th century ledger book and hear a talk on Italian ledger bindings sponsored by the Guild of Bookworkers. We had a very successful research date in the Reading Room of the Library Company of Philadelphia and celebrated ( Read more... )

Last Thursday I put on my best 3 piece suit (striped wool morning dress trousers, black waistcoat, and my tweed jacket), a white French-cuff shirt, gold cufflinks, oxblood leather wingtips, a Victorian ruby tie pin, a pocket square, and a burgundy silk tie, and after work took Ms. C to see The Gaming Table at the Folger theatre. As a staff member I ( Read more... )

On Saturday the 18th Will and I got up early and headed up to the Ship's Company annual meeting in Catonsville. We watched LB's slideshow, voted on a few things, and felt generally excited about the upcoming year. After the meeting we walked around the Bannecker Center, where the meeting was held - it's a small museum on the grounds of Benjamin ( Read more... )

It was just as busy a week as I'd predicted, but quite nice. On Friday evening the 10th DS came into Annapolis (with his brand-new (to him) Prius!) and after a dinner of what's-left-in-the-fridge? burritos we headed over to St John's, met up with my brother (who is enjoying his first semester living in a dorm), and settled in for the beautiful ( Read more... )

It was a pretty lazy week, as weeks go. I worked late on Thursday the second, and on Friday I got off work early, was picked up in NoVA, and headed out to Orange County with some friends to spend a weekend at a 300 acre farm in the low, rolling scrubland countryside of piedmont Virginia. I'd never spent much time in that part of the country aside ( Read more... )

( Catching Up: Volume IV: December 25, 2011-February 1, 2012. Christmas, gift giving, more deer hunting, and the 12th Night Regency Ball at Riversdale. )

( November 21-December 24: Hunting, hunting, and more hunting; holiday parties, and more. )

( October 23-November 20, 2011: Being an extra in a movie on the War of 1812, going to Shrinemont, VA and getting snowed (lots) on, seeing Slim Cessna'a Auto Club again, the formal Regency Dinner, and other adventures )

So lately I've been photographing fine and historic bindings at work for the bindings photo database I'm working on. Photographing the highlights of my institution's collection has been a real treat, so here are some VERY high-resolution photos of a blind-tooled binding from Belgium, ca. 1542.

An Antwerp panel-stamp binding with medallions of ( Read more... )