Keeping the old skills alive

[annc]

I'm a subscriber to Atlas Obscura, a daily source of articles about places to visit that have mostly been forgotten and bypassed by the general public. This morning's article is about an artisan bookmaker in Venice who is still making books by hand, and training apprentices in the art he learnt many decades ago (he is 78).


It's well worth reading, plus I really enjoy my daily email on all sorts of topics, and places I would never have known existed. As a librarian who learnt my trade back when many books were still made by hand and printed on traditional presses, I found this fascinating.


Today's new librarians are taught nothing of these skills, not even the ones that were current when I was new. I pity these young people, who will probably never even experience the delights of walking into the front office of a printing company and smelling the ink.


https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...eid=e3de3b295a

[terrie]

I want to go there!!!


I have just finished Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo followed by a re-read of the last of The Lymond Chronicles and I'm so very sad to leave them behind because they are so good! There is just something special about the 15th-16th centuries world and she made it come alive with fictional characters and real people.



I will have to check out atlasobscura more fully...'-}}




Terrie

[annc]

They've been doing a wonderful series recently on bridges that were built for a specific purpose, a purpose that is no longer relevant or that has disappeared, or there were catastrophic physical upheavals that made them too dangerous, so many of them either go nowhere, or have been bypassed, or they just disintegrated. I just love reading about all the stuff they include in the daily emails.

[woody649]

Originally Posted by annc

It's well worth reading, plus I really enjoy my daily email on all sorts of topics, and places I would never have known existed. As a librarian who learnt my trade back when many books were still made by hand and printed on traditional presses, I found this fascinating.


Today's new librarians are taught nothing of these skills, not even the ones that were current when I was new. I pity these young people, who will probably never even experience the delights of walking into the front office of a printing company and smelling the ink.

I'm old enough to remember when larger libraries in some corners of the U.S. had workrooms where they would repair or replace the hardcover bindings on some books when they became too worn to circulate. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen any more.

[annc]

Originally Posted by woody649

I'm old enough to remember when larger libraries in some corners of the U.S. had workrooms where they would repair or replace the hardcover bindings on some books when they became too worn to circulate. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen any more.

I think you will probably find that some specialised libraries will still do this, but the skills are being lost, I'm afraid.