Programs > Conference > 2009
The Book Beautiful
Newport: October 16–18, 2009
APHA’s 34th Annual Conference, “The Book Beautiful,” meets in Newport, Rhode Island, October 16th-18th, 2009, during our 35th anniversary year. The background for the theme is T.J. Cobden-Sanderson’s insight, voiced in London at the Art Workers’ Guild in 1892, that “if the Book Beautiful may be beautiful by virtue of its writing or printing or illustration, or binding, or by virtue of the thing to be communicated to the mind, it may also be beautiful by the union of all to the production of one composite whole, the consummate Book Beautiful.” Investigating the production and impact of such texts and books will take our conference from 18th-century printing in Newport, London, and Paris, to 20th-21st-century books in the United States, England, and France.
The program has been published and registration is now open. William S. Peterson, emeritus professor of English at the University of Maryland and editor of APHA’s journal, Printing History, will deliver the keynote address.
Detailed Conference Program (PDF) (Schedule with expanded talk topics)
Registration Form (PDF)
Museum of Printing Broadside Competition (PDF)
Summary Conference Program and Registration Form (PDF)
Accommodation Suggestions (Word Doc)
Newport Travel & Restaurants
NB Other options can be found through travel-booking websites such as www.hotels.com, www.expedia.com, or www.priceline.com.
Special thanks to:
New England Chapter of ABAA
New England Chapter of APHA
John Russell Bartlett Society
Thomas Poynton Ives Fund
The Museum of Printing, North Andover
Newport Public Library
Newport Art Museum
Redwood Library
Rhode Island Center for the Book at Providence Library
External Links to our host institutions:
Redwood Library
Newport Public Library
Newport Art Museum
Conference Announcement
The American Printing History Association (APHA) invites proposals for “The Book Beautiful,” its annual conference, to be held 16–18 October 2009 at Newport, RI. We seek presentations on all forms of printed and manuscript creation where the aim is to produce an object of aesthetic beauty with form and content reinforcing one another. Such works include not only the traditional codex, but also pamphlets, periodicals, broadsides, ephemera, calligraphic and illuminated manuscripts, and websites, where elements such as text, illustration, binding, typography, design, paper, production technique and quality come together to produce a visually and intellectually stimulating, harmonious whole.
The conference theme is not limited to the end of the nineteenth century but the title is founded on T.J. Cobden-Sanderson’s words (from his 1892 lecture to the Art Workers Guild in London, and repeated by him in later versions):
“If the Book Beautiful may be beautiful by virtue of its writing or printing or illustration, or binding, or by virtue of the thing to be communicated to the mind, it may also be beautiful by the union of all to the production of one composite whole, the consummate Book Beautiful.”
We welcome proposals which range across many historical periods, from the Book of Kells to the Venetian printers of the Renaissance to the makers of livres d’artistes to examples cited in Edward Tufte's Beautiful Evidence—up to the present moment. Contributions are sought from historians and critics in a variety of (and across) disciplines, curators, librarians, collectors, designers, printers, and artists. The varied format of the conference will allow for a mix of short papers, panels with three or four participants and a moderator, and workshops and demonstrations by book artists located near Newport.
William S. Peterson, emeritus professor of English at the University of Maryland and editor of APHA’s journal, Printing History, will deliver the keynote address. The distinguished scholar of William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and the editor of the collected writings of D. B. Updike, Peterson is also a typographer and graphic designer.
Guidelines for Proposals
- Proposals for 20-minute short papers should include paper topic and abstract (500 words maximum), contact details, and a short biographical statement or curriculum vitae.
- Proposals for panels of three or four speakers (each allotted 15 minutes) are expected to come from the putative moderator. A description of the topic (500 words maximum) should be accompanied by contact details and biographical information for each participant.
- We also welcome proposals for workshop demonstrations by local practitioners in the book arts whose work aims toward “The Book Beautiful.” For these submit a short (250 words maximum) statement about your activities and qualifications, together with an explanation of the demonstration, its location, how many might attend, and contact details. Examples of produced work may be requested by the program committee.
- All proposals should indicate audio-visual requirements such as slide or digital projectors.
Please note that presenters must be APHA members at the time of conference registration. For accepted submissions, we request first refusal for publication to be given to Printing History, if possible.
Deadline: 1 April 2009
E-mail materials as attachments (MS Word, PDF or text files) to apha2009conference@gmail.com. Mail proposals to:
Alice Beckwith, APHA Vice President for Programs,
Department of Art & Art History
Providence College, Providence, RI 02918 USA.
The complete program, registration form and conference hotel information are now available for APHA’s 35th Annual Conference, “Learning To Print, Teaching to Print,” in Washington, DC, October 15th–16th, 2010, at the Corcoran College of Art + Design. Download the program and hotel information. Download the registration form.
The Summer 2010 issue of the Newsletter is comprised of a story about the revival of UCLA's Horn Press; the program of the upcoming 2010 annual conference; a reminder of the 2010 Lieberman Lecture; chapter activities from across the country; a review of the 2010 Hofer Lecture; and the bicentennial of George Phineas Gordon. Download it in PDF form here.