My introduction to the book arts came through a talk and workshop by Bernard Meisner on traditional manuscript illumination techniques, held at the Center for Book Arts in New York City. I found myself captivated by the manual, visceral, and intellectual processes involved in the creation of books and manuscripts.

 

As an undergraduate I’d studied the history of science and technology. The book arts crystallized that inchoate interest, joining my love of books and reading to my fascination with historical craft and technique.

 

I’ve bench-trained as a binder since 2001, first in workshops at the Center for Book Arts and elsewhere, then through private study. For ten years I held an elected position on the executive board of the Guild of Book Workers and served as volunteer editor of the Guild of Book Workers Journal. I also volunteered for many years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Sherman Fairchild Center for Book Conservation, Thomas J. Watson Library, where I worked on the library's general and special collections, and on the museum's departmental collections. 

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More at www.linkedin.com/in/caraschlesinger/.