Today, Aug 24, is St Bartholomew Day, the patron saint of bookbinders. Aug 24 is also the day of the traditional printer’s wayzgoose. A wayzgoose is an entertainment given by a master printer to his workmen. It marks the traditional end of summer and the start of the season of working by candlelight. Later, the word came to refer to an annual outing and dinner for the staff of a printing works or the printers on a newspaper. The picture I found of St Bart with a book also shows him with quite a ferocious knife! Maybe he’s bent on defending that book! So, today, make a book, print something, or just have a very nice dinner!

A message inside a little ring box by Christine Kelly . Check out her blog where she does lovely textile work with words.

I ran across a picture of Joan Ingoldsby Brown’s book “Immortality” the other day. It was a big inspiration the first time I saw it in about 2001 at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Brown said “A 4″ x 4″ accordion book containing Emily Dickinson’s poem about immortality and unfolding into a 20″ x 30″ collage using found engravings of the 1800s to depict the era of the poem.” I think the poem is the one that starts with

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

Kat Howard’s miniature book ‘Trust/Taunt’ is 2.75 x 2.25 inches. I love the outside sewing. She says “This miniature artist’s book features original poetry that contemplates the line between what’s public and what’s private, and what happens when you make a decision that you can’t take back.” See the book here and she has a Facebook page here.

I have a running list of “National X Day” that someday I’ll turn into a calendar. This week I found two: “National S’mores Day” (August 10, see a history of S’mores here) and “Book Lovers Day” (Aug 9). I found about the later from Amy Watkins’ blog, where she featured my flip book.