Membership Events Exhibitions Workshops About HBC

HBC53: The Hand Bookbinders of California 53rd Annual Members' Exhibition is open and available for viewing until August 23 at the American Bookbinders Museum located at 355 Clementina St, San Francisco, CA.  

• Between the Covers: an opportunity to view selected books outside the cases: Saturday, August 23, 4:30 – 6:00 pm. A vitrine allows a book to be displayed for public viewing but stands in opposition to the nature of a book. It limits your view to one perspective of a complex object. At this closing event we will examine the hidden content/details of selected books.

• If you missed Bound with Pride Panel Discussion, the video is now available for purchase on the American Bookbinders Museum website.

HBC member, Dominic Riley, was one of the judges for the Binding the Bard bookbinding competition. Durham University invited binders to submit proposals of how they would like to bind a modern reproduction of the book. 

Visit the Binding the Bard page on Durham University’s website to enjoy an excellent short video of Dominic talking about bookbinding. You can also see the proposals and example bindings on their website.

And if you missed it, the Bridwell Library’s triennial Helen Warren DeGolyer bookbinding competition was a showcase for HBC members.

Helen Warren DeGolyer Award – Lang Ingalls
Award for Excellence in Fine Binding – Karen Hanmer
Award for Design – Beth Redmond.

The event featured a presentation by 2022 DeGolyer Competition Winner Coleen Curry on her binding of Five Poems by Toni Morrison with illustrations by Kara Walker.

And finally, MIT Libraries has launched a comprehensive book arts research guide that will keep you glued to the screen for days. You can view the collection on their website here.

Also on their website is the Books and Bites Spring 2025 Showcase featuring Boxed in? What Where Why by Insiya Dhatt!

SAVE THE DATE: HBC SUMMER PICNIC

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the HBC Potluck Picnic, which will be held on Sunday, August 24. One of our members has generously offered to host at her home in San Anselmo. In addition to a potluck lunch, there will be a paste paper-making activity, so bring your aprons!

When: Sunday, August 24, 2:00 - 6:00 pm
Where: San Anselmo, California

An RSVP email will go out to members on July 14. Once you RSVP, the address for the picnic location, and details for what to bring to the potluck, will be sent via email. Hope to see you there!

HBC BINDERY NIGHT TOMORROW

The last HBC Bindery night of the Summer is tomorrow, July 2 from 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM at SFCB. Open to all HBC members.

Do you have something you’d like to advertise? Please email us at editor@handbookbinders.org!

Upcoming events from around the Bay Area and beyond!

• Mourning and Melancholy: Artists’ Books From the Arab World and Its Diaspora opens July 5 at SFCB. An opening reception will be held Friday, July 11 from 6pm - 8pm.

• SF Art Book Fair presented by the Minnesota Street Project Foundation, July 10 - 13. Free and open to the public!

• 2025 Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair in Falcon Heights, MN, July 12 from 10am - 6pm.

• The Tennessee Book and Ephemera Fair in Franklin, TN, July 25 - 27

• So You Want to Be a Bookbinder, virtual panel presented by the American Bookbinders Museum, July 26 at 12pm

If you would like to add events to our website, please fill out the event submission form.