News Release

An exhibition showcasing the work of members of the Hand Bookbinders of California, celebrating their 30th year, will open with a reception on Wednesday, November 6, at 6:00 pm, in the Skylight Gallery of the San Francisco Main Library (sixth floor), 100 Larkin Street at Civic Center.

The exhibition will continue through January 3, 2003. 

The anniversary show includes the work of amateurs as well as internationally recognized bookbinders. Entries range from traditional bookbinding in leather with elaborate gilding, to avant-garde artists' books and innovative designs, challenging commonly held notions of what a traditional book should be.

The exhibition, sponsored by the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts & Special Collections Center of the San Francisco Public Library, is free and open to the public.

Now held at the Library every other year, "this show is always eagerly anticipated," says Andrea Grimes, Special Collections Librarian. "Anyone with an interest in books and bookbinding will find books to inspire and delight them."

The Hand Bookbinders of California first displayed their work in a rare book dealer's store window on Union Square in the 1970 . For most of the 1990s, the members' annual show was displayed every year in the San Francisco Public Library. Beginning this year, the Hand Bookbinders will return to the Library on even numbered years.

For more information about the Hand Bookbinders exhibition, please call the Book Arts & Special Collections Center at
(415) 557-4560, or visit www.sfpl.org.

A catalog celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Hand Bookbinders of California will be available for sale at the opening of the exhibition and at Book Bay at the Main bookstore. The Hand Bookbinders membership includes a subscription to The Gold Leaf quarterly newsletter as well as lectures, workshops and classes on a wide variety of book-related subjects.