Surprise Gift

I had a lovely surprise on Friday, as I gathered with a small group from my local Calligrapher's Guild for a year-end dinner. Kathie presented each of the other members from the planning committee with a surprise thank you gift from her bookshelf, relevant to that person's interests. This is what I received:

Isn't the presentation so inviting? It was wrapped with a piece of rice paper, delightfully splattered with paint, with a little handmade tag by Kathie. And removing the wrapper, this was revealed:

Non-Adhesive Binding: Books Without Paste or Glue by Keith A. Smith. This is the first of 5 books Keith Smith wrote on non-adhesive bindings (who knew there was so much to write?). He has written several other books on books, and his books are among the most authoritative books out there on bookbinding. Needless to say, I was very happy to receive this as I did not already have this one. One thing I'm curious about is that inside the front cover it states "book number 128"--does anyone know if his earlier books were all numbered editions?

Thanks so much Kathie for your generosity!