Bookworm #98 – Collectors Corner with Garrett Scott, “The World of Vernacular Bindings”

Bookseller and collector Garrett Scott joins Julia Miller and Clements Curator of Books Emi Hastings to discuss the Garrett Scott Collection of Vernacular Bindings recently acquired by the Clements Library.

Scott’s working definition of “vernacular binding” is “an alteration or addition to the book, pamphlet, or leaf, when this alteration is made by an owner whose vocation is not bookbinding or associated book arts, when this modification is meant to enhance, protect, repair, or reinforce the structure of the item.”

Panelist Julia Miller is a bookbinding scholar and conservator who authored Books Will Speak Plain: A Handbook for Identifying and Describing Historical Bindings. As Curator of Books, Emi Hastings now oversees the Scott Collection. They will discuss different types of repairs and what these traces of ownership teach us.