NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Apologies in advance for some of the rushed photos - there were a LOT of people in the exhibition and I had to jostle for space with a mask on and 2 kids and still try to feel safe! Overall, I want to give a feel for the book arts section of this show and the feeling you get when encountering them. Impossible to get closer as they were all, of course, behind glass. I'd like to open with this lovely quotation:

This is, of course, the Shahnameh - king's book of kings and epic of Persia/Iran!

Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp I keep referring to: please note the crinkly paper! (not crinkly, but you know what I mean - it's not completely flat and has been touched by human hands!)

The effect of gold from an angle

And again, ever so slight shift

Look at this in context - look at the side of this book and binding! Quite thick

And another one, again not totally flat

And the edges of the paper aren't perfect. Nothing, in fact, is perfect!

Let this be an antidote to perfectionism

Effect of gold, which you can only see when it catches the light

Miraj golden cloud (Night Journey)

A larger (going to A3 size) miniature

Look at the water - done quickly-ish and with fun

Also fairly large

Zarafshan gold sprinkling and 2 facing portraits and figures

Carpet Pages!

You may vaguely recognise some of these images from books you've seen

And this one

...anyone recognise this one?! Behzad construction workers and that surfer dude... and that unusual light blue sky

Geometry construction sheet

Bookbinder's stamps

And the info that came with them - leather tools. My husband knows all about this and still trying to encourage him to teach, slowly slowly he's coming round to it!

Beautiful tools

And the info that came with them

The back of a book

And the front, the classic envelope fold - books were wrapped all around. They really were luxury precious objects!

Finally some samples for book covers.

Hope you enjoyed this virtual tour! The exhibition itself had a ton of other, non-book related stuff as it was about all the arts, crafts and history of Iran of which books are but a small part, so only stuck to the bookish things here!