Programs > Lieberman Lecture
The Lieberman Lecture
The annual Lieberman Lecture commemorates J. Ben Lieberman (1914–1984), founder and first president of the American Printing History Association. The lecture is a moveable feast, given at a different institution each year, by a figure distinguished in the history of printing or the book arts. Past speakers include Henry Morris, Richard-Gabriel Rummonds, Roderick Stinehour, Jack Stauffacher, Johanna Drucker, John Randle, G. Thomas Tanselle, Claire Van Vliet, and Paul Needham.
In March 2009 the Lieberman Lecture was given by John Kristensen at Wellesley College. Kristensen spoke on “The Book [Broadside, Bookplate, Business Card & Birth Announcement] Beautiful,” about his work at Firefly Press, located in Boston, over the past 30 years. Kristensen is a master printer whose depth of knowledge in classic and modern typography is evident in every product of his press, from the simplest business card to the most lavish book. His distinctive and elegant designs have graced publications of colleges, universities, libraries, and foundations from across the US, as well as artists and noted bibliophiles. Every project demonstrates John’s practical scholarship in the history of printing, his skill with hot-metal typecasting equipment and with antique and modern presses, and his ability to give clients not only what they want but often what they did not know they wanted.
Monday, July 26
Reception at 5 pm and Lecture at 6 pm
2010 Lieberman Lecture
Betsy Davids:
From Palm Leaf to Book: a South Asia Quest
The Book Club of California
312 Sutter Street, Suite 510
San Francisco, CA 94108-4377
800-869-7656 415-781-7532
Betsy Davids began making books in 1970 because she wanted to see her writing in book form. She has continued to this day out of love for the contemporary arts of the book. At California College of the Arts (formerly California College of Arts and Crafts), where she is Professor Emerita, she has taught bookmaking and letterpress printing since 1972. Her own imprint, Rebis Press, in partnership with James Petrillo, became known in the seventies for editions that merged new literary texts and images, fine print production values, and nontraditional materials. She was an early practitioner of the artist book and an early adopter of electronic technologies. Since 1990, her books have been one-of-a-kind and handmade, emanating from her dream writing practice and travel experience. She was a co-founder of the Pacific Center for Book Arts and a founding board member of the College Book Art Association.
Palm leaf was the traditional material for books throughout South and Southeast Asia for many centuries. In the 1970s, the art of incising on palm leaves was revived in Raghurajpur, a village in the state of Orissa, India. Betsy Davids recently visited the village to research how these intriguing contemporary palm leaf structures are made, with the aim of making her own palm leaf books.
Past Lieberman Lectures
Lectures in the series are listed with the hosting institution given in parentheses after the speaker's name.
2009
John Kristensen
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
2008
[no lecture]
2007
Sue Allen
Grolier Club, New York, NY
delivered 2008
2006
Henry Morris
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
2005
Richard-Gabriel Rummonds
University of San Francisco, CA
2004
John Downer
Newberry Library, Chicago, IL
delivered in 2005
2003
Roderick Stinehour, with Jerry Kelly
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
2002
Jack Stauffacher, with Matthew Carter
Getty Center, Los Angeles
2001
Johanna Drucker
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
2000
John Randle
Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1999
Barry Moser
Iowa Center for the Book, Iowa City, IA
1998
Kenneth E. Carpenter
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
1997
Robert H. Hirst
Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
1996
[no lecture]
1995
Claire Badaracco
University of Texas, Austin, TX
1994
G. Thomas Tanselle
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
1993
Robert Bringhurst
University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
1992
David Kaser
St. Louis Mercantile Library, St. Louis, MO
1991
Stephen O. Saxe
Book Club of Texas, Galveston, TX
1990
[no lecture]
1989
Clive Griffin
John Carter Brown Library, Brown University, Providence, RI
1988
James Gilreath
Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA
1987
Paul Needham
Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
1986
Claire Van Vliet
Mills College, Oakland, CA
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.