Alice meets the Caterpillar, by John Tenniel. Public domain.

"On which occasion I told them the fairy-tale of “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground,” which I undertook to write out for Alice, & which is now finished (as to the text) though the pictures are not yet nearly done—" Lewis Carroll (1832—1898) Diary entry for 4 July 1862 © The British Library Board.

In addition to US Independence Day, 4 July is Alice in Wonderland Day, commemorating the date on which Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) first told his story to the three Liddell sisters during a July boat trip.

Here is the news from FABS for July. 

Has YOUR club held an event that should be in the FABS blog? Would you like to share the story of YOUR budding collection, with plenty of photos? Talk to Jennifer at info@fabsocieties.org. In the meantime, if you missed Lord Peter Wimsey, Bibliophile last month, check out the sophisticated collection of the most bibliomanic detective of them all.

You are welcome to participate the FABS Special Interest Groups on Zoom! Join us for an hour's informal discussion of your favorite topic. All groups meet at 4:30pm Pacific, 6:30pm Central and 7:30pm Eastern. To get on the list for one of these groups, contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

July 8: Handpress Era (second Monday of the month). This month we will hear from David Levy about a trip to Aberdeen to visit one of four known copies of the first edition of A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist (1742), bound with other works by Hoyle on backgammon and piquet. In a talk illustrated with examples from his collection and from his research, David demonstrates how the book, initially mysterious, came to reveal its story. After Q&A, we'll have open mic for the 18th century! Please share your printed item from 1700-1799. No powerpoint needed.

July 15: The Bindings Group (third Monday of the month) "The Prince of Binders: Joseph Altemus and the Apex of Publishers' Bindings in the Nineteenth Century." Todd Pattison will talk about the commercial bindings produced by the firm of Joseph Altemus, a Philadelphia bookbinder who produced the widest range of commercial bindings between 1845 and 1853. Todd Pattison is the Conservator for American Ancestors, Vice President of the Guild of Book Workers, and Fellow in the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).

July 18: 19th Century Group (third Thursday of the month). Congenial conversation on all things 19th-century and bookish. You are welcome!

July 23: Living With Books (fourth Tuesday of the month) All the pleasures and paraphernalia of home libraries! The discussion topics this month are Disaster Preparation and How Do You Photograph Your Books?.

FABS Member Society Online/Virtual Events for this month: Free and Open to the Public 

July 1: A Rare Book Summer Picnic: Conversations on Food, Cultural History and The Dining Table. Christine von der Linn of Honey & Wax Booksellers and Lizzy Young of Lizzy Young Bookseller will present stories of books & food and food history. With special goodies, rare finds and a Q & A after the live webinar. (The Manuscript Society)

July 1: The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles after 1945. Join Becky Nicolaides for a look at how suburbia has changed since WWII. Based on a half-century of quantitative data and unpublished oral histories and interviews, The New Suburbia explores vital landscapes where the American dream has endured, even as the dreamers have changed. (The Book Club of California)

July 7: Movable Mayhem: Pop-Up Books through the Ages. Renaissance pop-up book expert Suzanne Karr Schmidt will walk us through her most recent Newberry Library exhibition and related recent acquisitions, in a look at the long history of the movable book from the twelfth century to the present. (The Book Club of Washington)

July 8: Al Martinez in the Korean War: A Future Columnist Hones His Craft. For more than twenty years, the Los Angeles Times columnist Al Martinez (1929-2015) delighted, and enriched the lives of, thousands of readers across southern California. Now a volume of Al Martinez’ Korean War letters, I Promise You I’ll Be Home, has been published. Written from the unique perspective of a gifted professional at the beginning of his career, these letters home capture his experiences eloquently, with vivid, often humorous pen-and-ink drawings. A virtual presentation by Sara S. Hodson, author and retired curator of literary collections for The Huntington Library. (The Book Club of California)

July 15: California: A Slave State. By looking west to California and its origins in slavery, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle and reveals how the enslaved in California fought, fled, and resisted human bondage. (The Book Club of California)

July 22: The Material Culture of Advertising: Treasures from the Winterthur Library’s Collection of Trade Literature. Trade cards, trade catalogs, advertising ephemera, and sales samples illuminate the art of buying, selling, and dreaming in the past, painting a picture of the everyday lives of Americans as consumers. Join Winterthur Library Curator of Special Collections Allie Alvis for a tour of 400 years of colorful and sometimes weird advertising and promotion. (The Book Club of California)

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

Contact: Jennifer Larson, info@fabsocieties.org