Dear Everyone ~
An unexpected little email: Several weeks ago, I received an email from Mary McCarthy, a longtime customer and bookbinding enthusiast. She had visited BZS in 2019 with her daughter, who lives in the neighborhood. She had attached a single photo of three books perched atop a stack of boxes beside her desk. I zoomed right in and saw that two were buttonhole-stitch books & the other Coptic-stitch with Serizawa calendar pages as their covers. I could see that they were beautifully made—but not by me. Mary wrote, ‘I made a few journals à la Zaki, would you be interested in selling them? I ordered most of the Serizawa calendars from Japan.” I replied that I’d be delighted to sell them for her and added, “Send them on at your earliest convenience.” What I did not fully appreciate is that the cartons of books in Mary’s photo… were full of buttonhole-stitch books she had made and was offering to send my way!
The monumental Real Mail: The following Monday (a day I’m not typically in the shop, but happened to be), Will’s large postal truck suddenly pulls up right in front of the shop. This is unusual as he normally parks down the street. He begins unloading 10 boxes! I quickly open the door for him, and once he’s brought them all in, I share the story that is unfolding right here, right now. Together, we immediately open a box and begin our chorus of oohing & aahing. (photo of Will oohing & aahing)
I proceed to open each box and take an inventory of sorts. I am in awe. This is by far the largest surprise and most generous gift. And I appreciate beyond measure this opportunity to share the beauty, the Serizawa love, the craft… and the potential each of Mary’s books has to tell someone’s story: to become a home for their art, their ephemera, their poetry, their musings.
We have decided to sell each of Mary’s books for $88, a felicitous number in Japanese culture. (The price is substantially less than books made by me, because it is not my labour, or my Serizawa pages, that went into making them). BZS will donate the net proceeds to two organizations near and dear to my bookbinding heart: the Newberry Library and Artist Book House, both in Chicago. I so appreciate the opportunity to make a significant donation, particularly as funding for the arts has become so precarious and contentious.
As you might imagine, I asked Mary quite a few questions about her attraction to Serizawa calendars and her ability to make such beautiful buttonhole books without having taken a workshop (from me or anyone). I would be proud to say she had been an attentive student of mine, but she hadn’t been! Here are a few of my favourite comments and insights from Mary—practical, technical, and lyrical.
My daughter treated me to your store when I visited her in Chicago c. 2019. You shared how you started your paper journey—and I found myself researching bookbinding and Serizawa calendars. I bought one of your journals and couldn't stop looking at it, flipping through it and turning it back-to-front and front-to-back the way the Japanese read their books.
I began collecting the Serizawa calendars, sending off to Japan and anticipating the arrivals with the exotic stickers and printing. I felt badly breaking up the sets and noted the different colors and stenciling accuracy while being so beautiful.
I used your journal as a teaching guide and back engineered it. I did not actually take it apart. I have some seamstress skills, so I tried my version of the buttonhole stitch. You can't pull too hard or you tear the paper, so a delicate balance parallels the challenges of living. If you sew it a particular way, right or wrong, just stay consistent.
When COVID hit, I had already started making these journals. I perched myself at a desk overlooking my wildflower garden and began just keeping busy with paper until 2023. Time passed and the stacks grew higher. I don't really know why I kept at it other than I thought someday someone would love it and use it up the way I love the mother-journal I purchased from you. My daughter has it now.
Carry on Bari, you and your artists make the world a better place.
We are thrilled to be the temporary home of this extravaganza of Serizawas. We are ardent believers in choosing a book by its cover, whether to use or to display or simply to cherish. (I personally have several in this category.)
Serizawa Extravaganza
With deep & abiding gratitude, Bari
P.S.
You are more than welcome to visit all the books in person, to touch & such, to ooh & aah, to shop & chat.
