"The Librarian" by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1562). Photo: Wikipedia Public Domain

National Booklovers Day is August 9. Admittedly, the ninth is also National Passion Fruit Day and National Rice Pudding Day, but Booklovers Day has the advantage of being slightly mysterious. My web searches have turned up no origin for the celebration, and it seems to have first appeared in Google searches around 2004. According to various sources, it encourages summer reading, and participants shut down their devices for a day in order to devote themselves to good, old-fashioned paper! I’ll be reading Carl Hiaasen (the Skink series!), Eric White’s new book on Gutenberg, and Introduction to Manuscript Studies by Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham. What about you?

Here is the news from FABS for August: 

Bookish Blogging: If you missed Hal Kanthor’s entry last month on posters for Gilbert and Sullivan productions, check it out and enjoy a range of visually engaging “Gilbertiana.” 

Would you like to write about your collection or any other bookish topic for the FABS blog? Contact Jennifer, your friendly editor, at fabsocieties.org

Check out the Portland Bibliophilic Feast enjoyed by members of the Book Club of Washington and the Himes & Duniway Society (both FABS member societies) July 11-14. Activities included a visit to Lewis & Clark College Special Collections, booksellers (Downtown Brown, Crooked House, Burnside Rare Books, Mother Foucault's) plus the Clinker Press Studio! What a great way to spend a weekend.

Bookplate Exhibition Opening at BCC: 2024 marked the centenary celebration of Truman Capote (1924-1984) — the famed American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have become literary classics, including his 1958 novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Selections from the American Society of Bookplate Collectors & Designers’ International Bookplate Competition to honor Truman Capote and celebrate this iconic novel and film will be on display at the Book Club of California. The exhibition opening with reception is Monday August 4 from 6:00pm-7:15pm Pacific at the Book Club of California in San Francisco. The exhibition will be on view through November 7, 2025.

And speaking of bookplates, enjoy the latest issue of Bookplate Buzz from the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers.

The Baxter Society announces an exhibition entitled Printing Books for Four Decades, on view through August 29^th, 2025, at the Glickman Family Library at the University of Southern Maine in Portland ME. A celebration of the work of printer Scott Vile at the Ascensius Press, the show will present many of the exquisite books and ephemera printed there since 1990, both by letterpress and offset processes. Admission to the exhibition is free. Scott is a longtime supporter of FABS and designs the FABS Journal. We congratulate him on forty years of printing to the highest standards!

Does your club have news to share, or are you a club member with big news? Would you like to blog about your collection? Please contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

FABS Member Society events for August. Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Summer is a slower time for bibliophilic societies, and the schedule will pick up in September, but kudos to the Book Club of California for their continuous online programming!

August 11: FABS Handpress Era Group will meet at 7:30pm EST on Zoom for an hour of talk about printed items before 1800. Martha Driver, Ph.D., FSA, and President of the Early Book Society will speak about “Collecting John Speed, London Antiquary and Cartographer,” and show items from her collection. Contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

August 11: Manuscript Mondays. This month's topic: "First to Answer Lincoln’s Call, Rejected by Yale: Heber S. Thompson and the Power of Manuscripts," presented by Ravi D. Goel MD. Dr. Goel will highlight the Civil War experiences of the first Yale College student to answer President Lincoln’s call for volunteers after the Battle of Fort Sumter. (The Manuscript Society)

August 11: "Citizen Collectors in the Cultural Artifacts Ecosystem." Where do significant collections come from? They start when ordinary people develop a passion for a subject or object. They begin to add more items, filling in gaps and improving examples they have. They become subject matter experts in a narrow field. Lincoln Cushing, an “archival midwife” shepherding collections from private to public spheres, will share his experiences and explore how the processes and ethics of paper-based collections have evolved in the digital age. (Book Club of California)

August 18: The FABS Bindings Zoom Group welcomes bookbinder Gabrielle Fox and collector Neale Albert for “An Uncommon Collaboration.” Gabrielle (who specializes in miniature books) and Neale will discuss the commissioning process from both perspectives and explore how it led them to collaborative publication of several books. Contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

August 21: The FABS 19th Century Zoom Group meets for convivial conversation about all things bookish and 19th century! You are invited. Contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

August 25: "Postcards and the Baja, California Border Towns." Postcards have a magical pull. They allow us to see the past through charming relics that allow us to travel back in time. Daniel D. Arreola’s Postcards from the Baja California Border offers a window into the historical and geographical past of storied Mexican border communities. Once-popular tourist destinations from the 1900s through the 1950s, the border communities explored in Postcards from the Baja California Border used to be filled with revelers, cabarets, curio shops, and more. (Book Club of California)

August 26: Join the FABS Living With Books Group for congenial discussion of the challenges and pleasures of home libraries. Contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

Stay tuned to the FABS Calendar, as more events are sure to be posted soon.

Contact: Jennifer Larson, info@fabsocieties.org