2020-2021 Schedule
May
Letters From Abroad: Encounters with Global Writing Systems in the History of Type Design
7:00 PM – May 27, 2021
Dr. Craig Eliason, Professor of Art History at the University of St. Thomas with a focus on the history of typography and type design, will give a second presentation on the history of type. He describes the presentation thus: “To understand the development of our alphabetic forms in the history of typography, we need to pay attention not just to their internal history, but also to moments at which that history took cues from the shapes found in foreign writing systems. This talk will examine three such instances, apparent in documents spanning over two centuries: a multilingual booklet from 1774 printed by Italian master printer Giambattista Bodoni; a French type-design manual from 1924 composed with Japoniste types by George Auriol; and an online repository of digital fonts begun in 2012 by Google.”
This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. The link will be emailed to all members prior to the meeting.
April
Virtual Show-and-Tell Meeting
7:00 PM – April 22, 2021
Ampersander Dick Sveum will moderate a Collectors’ Roundtable via Zoom. Members will take turns sharing a book or bookish experience in short presentations, up to up to five minutes in length. If a member would like to present something, they can email Dick to be added to the list.
This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. The link will be emailed to all members prior to the meeting.
March
Picturing Rare Books: A Photographer’s Key to the Beauty Locked in Vaults
7:00 PM – March 18, 2021
Photographer Natasha D’Schommer will present about her work photographing rare books to open the vaults and release the beauty on the page. She has published books of intimate close-up photographs that reveal book structures, material textures, subtleties of type and lettering, and the extraordinary details of printed illustrations and hand drawn illuminations including from the collections of the James Ford Bell Library and Andersen Horticultural Library, among others.
This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. The link will be emailed to all members prior to the meeting.
February
A Discussion of the documentary ‘The Booksellers’ with Heather O’Donnell
7:00 PM – February 25, 2021
Join Heather O’Donnell of Honey & Wax Booksellers and Ampersander Rob Rulon-Miller in an open conversation about the 2020 documentary The Booksellers of the rare bookselling world in New York City. This will be a chance to discuss the film, hear the impressions and experiences of Ms. O’Donnell, get Rob’s take on the film, and ask questions.
This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. The link will be emailed to all members prior to the meeting.
November
The Saga of the Stillwater Lift Bridge and Other Historical Adventures
7:00 PM – November 19, 2020
Historian and historic preservationist Charlene Roise will discuss the process of writing her book on the history of the Stillwater Lift Bridge and other tales of life in the history trenches.
This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. The link will be emailed to all members prior to the meeting.
October
Cordially Invited: The History and Evolution of Ampersand Club Invitations
7:00 PM – October 15, 2020.
Ampersander John Moriarty will present his newly-published book “Cordially Invited: The History and Evolution of Ampersand Club Invitations”, copies of which will be sent to each member, to be received in time for the meeting.
This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. The link will be emailed to all members prior to the meeting.
Information about past topics and speakers can be found on the past meetings page.