Of Books and Boston

This is a belated post, and I’m not usually the “better late than never” type, but in this case I’ll make an exception.  Last month my family and I went to Boston for my sister’s graduation—in the Old North Church, no less—from bookbinding school, and we’re too proud not to want to boast just a little bit!

The work professionally trained book binders do is incredible.  Those of us who have never known anything but a world of machine-made paperbacks perhaps don’t immediately appreciate how much time, effort, art, and care go into binding a book by hand.  I wish I had pictures of my own to post of my sister’s beautiful work, but check out her website for photos and descriptions of what she’s done!

The cliff notes version of bookbinding is that a book binder can take a beaten-up, abused, dirt-encrusted volume and turn it back into something that can be enjoyed again; and she can also take a humble bunch of printed pages and render it into a piece of (functional) art.  And in a world where everything is cheap and disposable, it’s good to know that some people still value beauty and craftsmanship, and dedicate their careers to preserving the long-developed skills that we forget at our own peril. In other words, this is cool stuff.

And of course, you can’t go to Boston without taking a Duck Boat tour (or, if we are to spell it properly as our tour guide informed us, “DUKW Boat tour”).  Plucky Ruffles told us a great deal about the city (supplemented by my sister’s local knowledge), but what most struck me was how varied the scenery was, and how lovely in a patchwork, old-city sort of way.

From the broken pier under the Longfellow Bridge…

 

 

…to the touching memorial at the Boston Marathon finish line…

 

 

…to the John Hancock tower reflecting stone-and-brick edifice of Trinity Church…

 

…Boston constantly reminds you of both its history and its enthusiasm for the new and the now.

I hope to get back to the city soon.  But for the moment, other projects beckon (rather loudly, in fact), so I’ll simply congratulate my sister again—in the hearing of anyone who might care to listen—on her graduation and her growing portfolio of beautiful work!