OBJECT LESSON Bookbinding for Cirque Designed by Paul Bonet 1959 Most of the bindings designed by French bookbinding artist Paul Bonet in the 1950s were some variation on a swirl. This one, designed to cover André Suarès’ Cirque, was especially intricate. But somebody murdered the publisher, and the book was never printed. A half-dozen copies exist, elaborately bound but blank inside. Skin doesn't just wrap a living body; it's a vital organ itself. The same could be said for a book's binding. Yes, says George Fletcher, curator at the Morgan Library in New York, the binding's primary purpose is "to ward o. the tooth of time" from the pages it holds. But some bindings transform a book from printed word to artifact. Witness the example shown above, one of the more contemporary artifacts in the Morgan's holdings. J.P. Morgan started collecting bookbindings over 100 years ago. Now the library named for him owns more than 1,000 historically and artistically signi. cant bindings spanning the globe and 1,600 years. A selection of 55 outstanding works are on display in "Protecting the Word: Bookbindings of the Morgan" from Dec. 5 through March 29. themorgan.org

OBJECT LESSON Bookbinding for Cirque Designed by Paul Bonet 1959 Most of the bindings designed by French bookbinding artist Paul Bonet in the 1950s were some variation on a swirl. This one, designed to cover André Suarès’ Cirque, was especially intricate. But somebody murdered the publisher, and the book was never printed. A half-dozen copies exist, elaborately bound but blank inside. Skin doesn't just wrap a living body; it's a vital organ itself. The same could be said for a book's binding. Yes, says George Fletcher, curator at the Morgan Library in New York, the binding's primary purpose is "to ward o. the tooth of time" from the pages it holds. But some bindings transform a book from printed word to artifact. Witness the example shown above, one of the more contemporary artifacts in the Morgan's holdings. J.P. Morgan started collecting bookbindings over 100 years ago. Now the library named for him owns more than 1,000 historically and artistically signi. cant bindings spanning the globe and 1,600 years. A selection of 55 outstanding works are on display in "Protecting the Word: Bookbindings of the Morgan" from Dec. 5 through March 29. themorgan.org

Credit: The Morgan Library & Museum

 

  • EXHIBIT Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible 1840-1900 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Through Jan. 4 In 1853, the world got its first look at the male itch mite. Scientists were experimenting with cameras. Put to microscope or telescope, the camera's lens could capture the infinitesimally small, the unimaginably large, and, occasionally, the paranormal. sfmoma.org

    Credit: Auguste-Adolphe Bertsch, Courtesy SFMOMA

    EXHIBIT Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible 1840-1900 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Through Jan. 4 In 1853, the world got its first look at the male itch mite. Scientists were experimenting with cameras. Put to microscope or telescope, the camera's lens could capture the infinitesimally small, the unimaginably large, and, occasionally, the paranormal. sfmoma.org

  • EXHIBIT Félix Candela: Engineer, Builder, Structural Artist Princeton University Art Museum Through Feb. 22 Mexican officials got nervous the first time Félix Candela built a hyperbolic paraboloid concrete-roofed structure. They asked to see the engineer's calculations, but he had none. It was built anyway, and more followed (including the Los Manantiales Restaurant, shown). Fifty years later, Candela's forms are explained in an exhibition, book, website, modelmaking project, and popular class at Princeton. artmuseum.princeton.edu

    Credit: PRINCETON

    EXHIBIT Félix Candela: Engineer, Builder, Structural Artist Princeton University Art Museum Through Feb. 22 Mexican officials got nervous the first time Félix Candela built a hyperbolic paraboloid concrete-roofed structure. They asked to see the engineer's calculations, but he had none. It was built anyway, and more followed (including the Los Manantiales Restaurant, shown). Fifty years later, Candela's forms are explained in an exhibition, book, website, modelmaking project, and popular class at Princeton. artmuseum.princeton.edu

  • OBJECT LESSON Ferris Wheel A.C. Gilbert Co. Steel Erector Set circa 1955 $1,000 The Pharaohs stashed architectural toys in their tombs for the afterlife. George Wetzel, an Illinois schoolteacher, recently donated his collection of more than 2,000 toys to the National Building Museum. Now get your own from ArchiTech Gallery in Chicago. A collection of 20 architectural toys-including Froebel blocks, Tinkertoys, and Erector sets-are on exhibit and on sale, Dec. 5-27. Some, like the Ferris Wheel shown, come preassembled. architechgallery.com

    Credit: Architech Gallery

    OBJECT LESSON Ferris Wheel A.C. Gilbert Co. Steel Erector Set circa 1955 $1,000 The Pharaohs stashed architectural toys in their tombs for the afterlife. George Wetzel, an Illinois schoolteacher, recently donated his collection of more than 2,000 toys to the National Building Museum. Now get your own from ArchiTech Gallery in Chicago. A collection of 20 architectural toys-including Froebel blocks, Tinkertoys, and Erector sets-are on exhibit and on sale, Dec. 5-27. Some, like the Ferris Wheel shown, come preassembled. architechgallery.com

  • BOOK Chairs: Catalogue of the Delft Faculty of Architecture Collection By Otákar Mácel, Sander Woertman, and Charlotte van Wijk For more than a century, the faculty of architecture at the Technische Universiteit Delft has been collecting chairs. All kinds of chairs: 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th century chairs; household chairs; rare chairs; work chairs; baby chairs; and even African milking stools. Managed over the decades with varying degrees of attentiveness, the whole collection has recently been conserved and cataloged. Unfold the catalog's dust jacket into a full-color poster of all 240 chairs. Uitgeverij 010; Ç€24.50

    Credit: Charlie Brown

    BOOK Chairs: Catalogue of the Delft Faculty of Architecture Collection By Otákar Mácel, Sander Woertman, and Charlotte van Wijk For more than a century, the faculty of architecture at the Technische Universiteit Delft has been collecting chairs. All kinds of chairs: 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th century chairs; household chairs; rare chairs; work chairs; baby chairs; and even African milking stools. Managed over the decades with varying degrees of attentiveness, the whole collection has recently been conserved and cataloged. Unfold the catalog's dust jacket into a full-color poster of all 240 chairs. Uitgeverij 010; Ç€24.50