Third DeGolyer Triennial Strengthens

the Ties that “Bind”

Dallas, TX. For three days in early June, over 50 binders from around the world gathered to participate in a Conference on the Book Arts that takes place every three years in conjunction with The Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial Exhibition and Award for American Bookbinding

Einen Miura's Suminagashi Workshop

Bridwell Library (Southern Methodist University), host of the Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial, enjoys a growing reputation as a center for the book and the book arts in America. With the establishment of this event, first put on in 1997, Bridwell Library hopes to inspire and encourage the art of bookbinding in the United States.

The exhibition is a juried show drawn from a competition to design a binding for an important book in Bridwell's collections. By competing not only for a place in the exhibition, but also for the prize commission and other awards, binders working in America are both encouraged and challenged.

Further, the DeGolyer Conference on the Book Arts at Bridwell Library brings together book designers, binders, and book people for a fruitful sharing of ideas.

Although such awards have existed for quite some time in France, England, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere in Europe, no regular prestigious award for American bookbinding existed until now. The Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial at Bridwell Library is made possible by a generous gift from the heirs of Mrs. DeGolyer, herself an accomplished amateur binder.

The 2003 panel of judges included chair Colin Franklin (book dealer, collector, and former publisher from England), Catherine Burkhard (local bookbinder, calligrapher, and studio owner), Bruce Levy (California bookbinder, artist, and winner of the DeGolyer 2000 prize commission), and Greg Warden (Meadows Museum Director, faculty member of the SMU Art History Department, and bookbinder).

DeGolyer 2003 Judges

This year’s conference program included numerous workshops and lectures on the book arts. Tini Miura offered a workshop on leather onlay. Daniel Kelm spent a day teaching participants about non-adhesive spine structures. Jarmila Sobotová introduced new techniques for paste papers. Einen Miura offered a breathtaking slide presentation and hands-on workshop on Suminagashi papers. British binding historian Mirjam Foot presented a wonderfully informative lecture on Historical Bookbindings.

Jarmila Sobotová's Paste Paper Workshop

This year's prize commission and the inspiration for the designs in the DeGolyer Exhibition was the Pennyroyal Press Edition of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, richly illustrated by the artist Barry Moser. Mr. Moser was on hand to describe the making of the book in a memorable lecture that preceded the opening of the galleries on Friday night. The DeGolyer Exhibition consists of sample bindings and designs for this great book from all the binders chosen for inclusion.

Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Galleries

Jamie Kamph won the 2003 prize commission for a design that evokes major themes in the text. Ms. Kamph has been a bookbinder since 1973, when she began studying with Hope Weil. Since 1976, she’s run her own bindery in Lambertville, New Jersey, not far from Princeton, where Kamph has exhibited and worked on bindings. She is also a conservator and a scholar of the history of bookbinding, and author of A Collector’s Guide to Bookbinding, which was published in 1982. Kamph has lectured and exhibited at universities and museums around the country. She was clearly sensitive to this particular edition of the text, with its magnificent wood engravings by Barry Moser, because she plays upon the techniques of an engraver in the tooling and gilt work. Bridwell’s book and Kampf’s design for its future binding are featured in the full-color catalogue of the exhibition, along with nearly twenty other designs and examples by American design binders.

Jamie Kamph and Mirjam Foot

Other winners in the DeGolyer Competition were Eleanore Ramsey and Monique Lallier, who tied for the Jury Prize for Design, Priscilla A. Spitler, who won the Jury Prize for Binding, and Jan Sobota, who won for Distinction in Interpretation. All awards carried a generous cash prize and the presentation of a beautifully etched glass book weight.

The banquet that ended the conference included a slide show by Ms. Kamph on her lifework. Afterwards, the crowd sensed a sentimental passing. The dining room emptied very slowly as old acquaintances and new friends lingered over another glass of wine, swapped addresses, and continued to engage in bookbinding talk.

This year’s conference proved a great event for bookbinders – one that we hope will continue to grow and prosper.