The Art of the Book: Journals Then and Now

The Art of the Book: Journals Then and Now In the third installment of this bi-annual, traveling series, organizer Marian Amies assembles a collection of historic and contemporary journals, ranging from notations of expenses by Michelangelo to handmade books by University of Missouri students. An elegantly brittle-paged 1865 scrapbook documenting the first events (Emerson speaking on "Success") and ephemera generated by the earliest iteration of the St. Louis Public Library system, reveals the adolescent trials and idealistic "self-culture" ethos that motivated the formidable institution. A Taverner Bible from 1539 is juxtaposed with a Louisiana Purchase Exposition souvenir book from 1904, while turn-of-the-century travel sketchbooks appear next to a collection of book-based pieces from the ongoing Urban Book Project at Washington University. Travel, mapping, ecology, decay, personal memoir — even the smallest subjects receive bound treatment, creating an expansive range of approaches to and thinking about the journalistic urge. Through May 8 at Gallery 210, TeleCommunity Center, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1 University Boulevard (at Natural Bridge Road); 314-516-5976 or www.umstl.edu/~gallery. Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 

John Bently, Triptych Liver and Lights Scriptorium 16, 17 & 18, Mixed media

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More About

• Marian Amies
• University of Missouri
• Washington University in St. Louis
• University of Missouri-St. Louis
• TeleCommunity Center

Click here for a complete list of St. Louis art capsules.