Boston Bookbinder to Give Hammer Lecture

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 12, 2009) − James Reid-Cunningham, chief conservator for the Boston Athenaeum, will deliver the 2009 Hammer Lecture for The King Library Press at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, in the University of Kentucky Special Collections Library in the Great Hall of the Margaret I. King Building. This event is free and open to the public.   

Reid-Cunningham will speak on "Eye, Hand, Tool: The Collison of Art, Craft, and Conservation in the Contemporary Book." Reid-Cunningham was a conservator for the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University nearly two decades and is president of the national Guild of Book Workers. 

On Saturday, Nov. 21, the King Library Press will sponsor a Book Arts Workshop. At this session, participants will work at the Press with Reid-Cunningham and Paul Holbrook, director of King Library Press, to produce a letter describing a visit to Paris in 1958. The letter, from Press-founder Carolyn Hammer to a prominent California private press printer, explores the place of the artist and craftsman in the 20th century. The workshop is $30 and participants should register in advance. To register, call (859) 257-8408 or e-mail to klijdb@uky.edu.