Cathy's Art Diary

Small exhibition at the Bodleian Library for this annual book binding competition. The theme this year was heroic works and there were some lovely examples. Quite often the binding picked up the story in the book others were just beautiful covers. I loved Tom McEwan’s binding in purple goatskin with gold patterning. Also Troy Moore’s “Alice in Wonderland” which was a bottle with a copy of the book on a tiny scroll inside and of course a label saying “Drink me”. My favourite though was Sylvester Pacura’s cover for “The Golden Legend” which had a tooled stained glass window in the leather binding. Closed on 20 August 2017

Fascinating exhibition at the Bodleian Library looking at unexpected aspects of Jane Austen’s life and work. Arranged around various themes the show looked at the myths and the reality of Austen. The first case looked at the myths and had great examples of books written about her soon after she died which helped to build the image we have of her. I was interested in the Constance and Ellen Hill biography from 1900 which included interviews with people who remembered Austen. The case also looked at modern interpretations such as Jane in Space and of course Pride and Prejudice with Zombies. There were sections on Austen as a business woman looking at how she dealt with her publishers. I was surprised to find she had spent two months in London while each of her books was being published to correct the proof sheets herself. And of course when in London you go shopping and there was another lovely section looking at the shops she had mentioned in letters home and plays she ...