Mindell Dubansky, "A Parallel History of Books and Blooks," 2 June 2025

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This talk by Mindell Dubansky was part of Rare Book School's 2025 Summer Lecture Series. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/SsTUbRhUYDs?feature=shared. 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸: Throughout the world, for hundreds of years, people have expressed themselves by making plain and decorated objects in imitation of specific titles and types of books. No genre of book or bookbinding has been ignored. Mindell Dubansky calls these objects 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, a contraction of book-look. History has shown that infusing an object with bookish characteristics creates an emotional attachment to the object analogous to our feelings for a beloved or important book. This, in turn, increases our desire to own, share, and treasure our book-shaped objects. Love, friendship, humor, play, faith, enlightenment, and commemoration are all common and abiding themes of blooks. Dubansky’s lecture will touch on some of the areas in which real books and book-like objects most closely intersect. These include how the bookbinding trade was involved in making blooks, how blook-making followed publishing trends and popular titles, how disused books have historically been repurposed as blooks, and how the idea of the book has been translated into a myriad of unexpected objects by artists and inventors. Dubansky’s curated show on blooks for the Center for Book Arts in New York was profiled earlier this year by 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴: https://www.nytimes.com/.../review/bo.... 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿: Mindell Dubansky is Conservator at Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the author of numerous books and exhibition catalogs on the book and paper arts. These include 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘒𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵: 200 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 (2025); 𝘌𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴: 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘖𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘺𝘯𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘎𝘪𝘧𝘵 (online catalog); 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘦: 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘬𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (2024); 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘸: 𝘈 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 (2023); 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘈𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 (2016); and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘊. 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 (2008). Dubansky's personal collection of book objects and her groundbreaking research on the subject have previously featured in exhibitions at the Grolier Club and Metropolitan Museum of Art, in publications including 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, and on television shows such as CBS' 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. To facilitate research in the study of book objects, she has established the Blook Institute, a series of activities designed to promote the study of book objects, and their relation to book history, the book arts, material culture, and art history.

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