Visit to the Public Library of the State of Jalisco

I haven't been blogging here for almost three years, but I wanted to come back and share photos of my amazing experience visiting the Historical Archives of the Juan José Arreola Public Library of the State of Jalisco in Guadalajara, México.  It took a year to do the planning for the visit, and I couldn't be more pleased.  Thanks to Ms. Carolina Bueno and the Tec. de Monterrey people who made possible this glance at the history of Mexico through the printed book. Gracias!  Here are some highlights:

1. We saw on display selected titles from the Treasure of the Mexican Indigenous languages collection.

2. We had access to the "Book Cemetery" and a brief presentation on book conservation.

3. We were shown a beautiful collection of artistic bindings of the "Don Quixote" book. Thanks to Prof. Ana María de la O Castellanos, Coordinator of the Historical Library.

4. Last but not least, a 1569 Bible printed in Latin and Hebrew. Imagine! A book printed 77 years after Columbus' Discovery.

This library is amazing, and I'd like to go back to conduct research on calligraphy and paleography now that I have my library user card and researcher credential.

Foundational Hand and Collage

This series of hand-made postcards include collage and calligraphy elements.  Also included are original eraser stamps.  The calligraphy was executed in foundational hand using calligraphy felt pens.

Miracles happen












 
Matador













Light in the window shines on me

Hand-made corn paper (7) - Drying the sheets

This was a late Spring and early Summer production that resulted in dry corn paper sheets ready to be made into hand-made books!




It takes about 24 hours to squeeze/drain most of the water. After this, the sheets are separated from the stack and placed on a flat surface in a shaded area. Each sheet of corn paper should still be attached to a piece of felt. At this point, I place newspaper sheets underneath each sheet of corn paper to collect more water. I usually place three to five sheets of corn paper with their corresponding felt and alternate them with a stack or section of newspaper. Finally, I put a board and a heavy object (a brick) to continue the drying process.

This process takes between two to three days depending on the humidity and the temperature of the room. I do not use a blow dryer in this process, but the following link for the video 'Make Paper - Loading the Drying Box' gives you an idea of the process when a drying chamber is used.