Hello hivers, an happy Thursday to you all! Here is raining since yesterday and the air started to smell of Autumn. Maybe I wrote it a lot of time during te previous years, but I love so much the fall, when the colors all around become to be different shades of yellow, red and brown and the streets looks covered by a carpet of leaves. After this boiling (really boiling) summer I really can't wait the atumn, believe me. 😁
A couple of days ago I went to the public library in my city because there was a meeting to talk about a local artist and when I arrived there I noticed there were a lot of fabric book along the showcases.
The title of this special exhibition (open from September 1th to October 3th) is: "Dean’s Rag Books: The Extraordinary Story of the First Cloth Books for Children" from a private collection and inside the showcases there are a lot of beautiful old illustrated books printed on fabric (also known as rag books).
These are old books printed during the first years of the 1900 by the Dean’s Rag Books Co. (founded in 1903) by Henry Samuel Dean.
I was very intrigued by this beautiful and touching collection and so, when I came back at home, I searched some more informations about this kind of books. They were really an innovation around the concept of the books during the first years of the 1900. The "Rag Books" were cotton and linen printed books for children to give them a tactile and sensory experience too. As you can understand, at that time the traditional paper books for children had to be carefully preserved on shelves because they were fragile (and a little expensive too), but the one in fabric could be read, handle and hugged by the little hands! The Dean’s Rag Book Company in London started to create them in the 1903, but this innovation soon inspired many artisanal productions throughout the Europe.
I took some pics of the books to share with you, but the glass of the showcases was no good to have good pics, sorry!
Has you can see in the pics,these old books were printed in vibrant colors and the simple illustrations are so sweet also today. Even if now we can find fabric books for children published by many publishing houses, we have to thanks that first company that thought to give a tactile experience to the children who were reading the books! ❤️
Well, now I have to come back to my brushes and colors.
See ya soon and stay safe, Silvia
***If you like my artworks, you can find them on my online shops on
Artfinder ( https://www.artfinder.com/silviabeneforti#/), on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/vumap) and on my Patreon page too (https://www.patreon.com/silviabeneforti). If you are interested about my artworks, you can by my catalogue here:
US (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9S4VLQK)
Italy (https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0C9S4VLQK)
Uk (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C9S4VLQK)
You can find it in different countries, you have just to search "silvia beneforti portfolio" on Amazon. ^^
^^ ****
