First Friday: Books, Meet Their Makers!

This First Friday, explore the intersection between art and science!

Our collections of historic sample books, be it textiles, paints, or dyes, have inspired the Guild of Book Workers to create their own works of art. These artists' books will be on view on the second level of the museum, along with the books that inspired it all on the first floor. The Guild will also be featuring a bookmaking table that shows off the tools of their trade and how the magic happens!

At 6pm the president of the Guild and our curator Jesse Smith will give an introduction to the exhibit to kick off the opening night.

Are you a book worm? You are in the right place! Other bookworms have left their mark—tiny tunnels left through the pages show just how much these little readers couldn't resist a good story! The museum will feature handling collection activities centered around the history of parchment. Learn what the materials of books can tell us beyond the words contained within them.

The Guild of Book Workers was founded in 1906 to "establish and maintain a feeling of kinship and mutual interest among workers in the several hand book crafts." Among its early members are well-known artist-craft workers such as bookbinder Edith Diehl and printers and typographers W.A. Dwiggins and Frederic W. Goudy.

Their members are committed to sustaining the crafts involved with the production of books while striving to broaden public awareness of handbound books and related arts, stimulating commissions of bindings and book-adjacent work, and advocating for sound principles of book conservation and/or restoration.

We are now giving public tours of our research library every First Friday! Come by before the event at 4pm to get a behind-the-scenes look upstairs at the resources and archives available to all scientifically curious minds. Space is limited to the first 12 guests. Learn more here.

Also check out other Arts events in Philadelphia.