The card design that is a book in the book about card design

The first announcement piece for the WNY Book Arts Collaborative was a hand bound mini book/business card. As with many good ideas, the labor involved in making these as business cards made it difficult to mass produce. Only about 150 of these were made. The cover was hand set metal 8Pt. "Venus Expanded" on the discontinued line of Strathmore Americana paper (Shaker Straw color 80lb. cover). The inside was color laser printed with some P22 fonts that i can't recall the names of. They were then stitched together with silk thread. So what started as a calling card with just a website, turned into a little book.
This card/book was recently featured in the book Best of Business Card Design 8 (2008 Rockport Publishers).

Slotkin's Archeology

In our recent renovations with the street level flooring of the Western NY Book Arts Center, we have unearthed (or defloored?) a vibrant silkscreened dress box from the Slotkin department store who was the namesake tenant of the building that still has it's signage on the Washington St side of the building. Slotkin's was an upscale womens' dress shop at our location at 468 Washington St. in downtown Buffalo. It was likely* from the corner window of Slotkin's that Charles Burchfield painted the view of the Electric tower while waiting for his wife to do some shopping. It was later in the 1950's and 60's a semi-legendary new and used bookshop. The basement once filled with books is now filled with equipment to make books. Interesting.


(*editorial conjecture)

“So you want to be a rare books librarian in a digital age”

University at Buffalo, Department of Library and Information Studies presents “So you want to be a rare books librarian in a digital age” by Dr. Sidney E. Berger, Monday, November 10, 2008

A presentation by Sidney E. Berger, Ph.D. offered by the Department of Library and Information Studies, University at Buffalo, Buffalo NY, Amherst Campus
Monday, November 10, 2008 2:30-4
553 Baldy Hall

Dr. Sidney E. Berger is a nationally recognized library scholar administrator, and director of the Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. Also a faculty member at Simmons College, Boston MA, Dr. Berger previously headed the special collections department at the University of California, Riverside and was curator of printed books and manuscripts at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester. His Ph.D. is from the University of Iowa, in Medieval Literature and Bibliography, M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. He teaches a wide variety of classes, including The Preservation of Library Materials, Preservation Management, the History of the Book, and Bibliography. He runs his own handpress, makes paper, casts type by hand, and publishes extensively on literary and book arts topics.

Please come! This program is free and open to the public RSVP and registration are not required

Charles Burchfield at WNYBAC

The vista looking up Washington Street from our building toward the Electric Tower is breathtaking Painter, Charles Burchfield also thought so: the point of view in this painting (circa 1940) is from our exact location at 468 Washington St. at Mohawk.

WNYBAC welcomes: It's own Ludlow Typograph!

A Ludlow is a line-type casting machine. After a long trip to and from Connecticut, WNYBAC founding members Richard Kegler & Hal Leader have returned with a Ludlow machine to add to the equipment roster of WNYBAC. With over 70 fonts of matrices to cast text for letterpress printing, foil stamping or other uses, this amazing machine will allow members additional options for producing their work. WNYBAC will also entertain Linecasting to order. A full list of avaiable fonst will be posted soon. Pictured above is traveling Ludlow expert Dave Seat getting the machine in shape and fully functioning.