Although historians can't pinpoint when the first book was created, the oldest known book in existence was printed in China in 868 CE.  Called "The Diamond Sutra," it was a copy of a sacred Buddhist text, in a 17-foot-long scroll printed with wooden blocks.  It was commissioned by a man named Wang Jie to honor his parents, according to an inscription on the scroll, though little else is known about who Wang was or who created the scroll.  Today, it is in the collection of the British Museum in London.  By 932 CE, Chinese printers regularly were using carved wooden blocks to print scrolls.  But these wooden blocks wore out quickly, and a new block had to be carved for each character, word, or image that was used.  The next revolution in printing occurred in 1041 when Chinese printers began using movable type, individual characters made of clay that could be chained together to form words and sentences.  By the early 1400s, European metalsmiths also had adopted wood-block printing and engraving.  One of those metalsmiths was Johannes Gutenberg, who began experimenting with printing work during his exile in Strasbourg—at the time, there were metalsmiths in Avignon, Bruges, and Bologna who were also experimenting with presses.  It is unclear when Gutenberg began publishing with his metal type, but by 1450 he had made sufficient progress to seek additional funds from another investor, Johannes Fust.  Using a modified wine press, Gutenberg created his printing press.  The ink was rolled over the raised surfaces of movable handset block letters held within a wooden form, and the form was then pressed against a sheet of paper.  By 1452, Gutenberg entered into a business partnership with Fust in order to continue funding his printing experiments.  Gutenberg continued to refine his printing process and by 1455 had printed several copies of the Bible.  Consisting of three volumes of text in Latin, Gutenberg's Bibles had 42 lines of type per page with color illustrations.  But Gutenberg didn't enjoy his innovation for long.  Fust sued him for repayment, something Gutenberg was unable to do, and Fust seized the press as collateral.  The bulk of Gutenberg's presses and types went to Peter Schöffer of Gernsheim, an employee and later son-in-law of Fust.  Fust continued printing the Bibles, eventually publishing about 200 copies, of which only 22 exist today.  Few details are known about Gutenberg's life after the lawsuit.  According to some historians, Gutenberg continued to work with Fust, while other scholars say Fust drove Gutenberg out of business.  https://www.thoughtco.com/johannes-gutenberg-and-the-printing-press-1991865



The Merenda is an Italian food tradition.  The word has Latin origin and it means “something to deserve it”.  It’s a light afternoon snack, usually prepared from raw ingredients commonly available at home.  While British have the afternoon tea break, Italians and, of course, Tuscans have the Merenda.  This is an Italian food tradition but each region has its own ingredients and different ways to prepare Merenda.  NICOLA BANDINI  https://mytravelintuscany.com/merenda-an-italian-food-tradition/



The word eponym (pronounced ep–uh-nim) came into use around 1833 and comes from the Greek word, “eponymos”.  Broken down, its construction is as follows:  “epi”, meaning “upon or after” and “onyma”, meaning “name”.  Simply put:  “named after”.  The phrase “sideburns” actually comes from Ambrose Burnside, an American jack-of-all-trades and first president of the NRA. “Graham crackers” were named after Sylvester Graham, a reverend who promoted the vegetarian diet and the firm bread of coarsely-ground flour we enjoy to this day.  The “Mason jar” is named after John Landis Mason, a tinsmith who invented the jar popular jar in 1858.  If you are said to have an “Achilles’ heel”, it means that you have a weakness of some kind.  This eponym goes back to the Greek myths and to the Trojan War.  The hero Achilles was dipped in the river Styx by his mother, making him invulnerable, except for the part of his heel where his mother held him.  He was eventually killed by being wounded in his heel.  https://literaryterms.net/eponym/



September 2019:  Kroger and Walmart are discouraging "open carry" in their stores.



September 3, 2019  Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie are among the six authors shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize.  Atwood is in contention again with The Testaments, her eagerly awaited follow-up to The Handmaid's Tale, while Sir Salman makes the cut with Quichotte.  Bernardine Evaristo, Chigozie Obioma, Elif Shafak and US author Lucy Ellmann are also up for the prize.  Both Atwood and Rushdie have won the coveted prize before, in 2000 and 1981 respectively.  Atwood also made the shortlist with The Handmaid's Tale in 1986.  The Testaments, which is set 15 years after the end of that novel, will be officially published next week.  The winner, whittled down from 151 submissions and a longlist of 13, will be announced on 14 October.  https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49562607



IMAGINED CARTOON  Caption:  Hurricane Durian  Picture:  Durian fruits ("tastes like heaven, smells like hell") rain down from above  Credit:  Reporters who pronounce Dorian like Durian 



PERSON OF THE DAY  Jane Addams (September 6, 1860–May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator and author.  She was a notable figure in the history of social work and women's suffrage in the United States and an advocate for world peace.  She co-founded Chicago's Hull House, one of America's most famous settlement houses.  In 1910, Addams was awarded an honorary master of arts degree from Yale University, becoming the first woman to receive an honorary degree from the school.  In 1920, she was a co-founder for the American Civil Liberties Union.  In 1931, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and is recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States.  Wikipedia



Alexander Girard:  A Designer's Universe  May 5, 2019-October 27, 2019  Museum of International Folk Art  706 Camino Lejo on Museum Hill  Santa Fe, NM  505-476-1200   Alexander Girard was one of the most influential interior and textile designers of the 20th century.  Alexander Girard:  A Designer’s Universe is the first major retrospective on Girard’s work, organized by the Vitra Design Museum in Germany.  It opens a door to his creative universe and shows his close relationships with contemporaries such as Charles & Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Andy Warhol, Rudi Gernreich, and many others.  Featured are Girard’s designs in textiles, furniture, and sculptures, as well as numerous sketches, drawings, and collages never shown before.  Girard was also a pivotal figure in the history of the Museum of International Folk Art, donating more than 100,000 objects from his and his wife Susan’s folk art collection, and in 1981 creating the museum’s long-term, beloved exhibition Multiple Visions.  Girard’s playful designs attest to a passion for colors, ornamentation, and inspirations from folk art.  See graphics at http://internationalfolkart.org/exhibition/3815/alexander-girard-a-designer-039s-universe  The exhibition will be on view from November 23, 2019 through March 1, 2020 at the Palm Springs Art Museum.  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/palm-springs-art-museum-presents-alexander-girard-a-designers-universe-on-view-november-23-2019march-1-2020-300902591.html 



Alexander Girard was a designer who defied easy categorization, mostly because he worked—and excelled—in every field.  Tireless, creative, and immersive, Girard was most comfortable when absorbed in a project, and he managed to complete a staggering catalog raisonné in his lifetime:  houses, department stores, trendy restaurants, less trendy restaurants, logos, a terrazzo material, an airline, a folk art museum, even an imaginary land with its own language.  When Alexander Girard was posthumously awarded the AIGA medal in 2019, Herman Miller produced a video tribute that attempted to compress the designer’s voluminous accomplishments into a five-minute film now available to stream online.   

https://www.curbed.com/2019/8/21/20826791/alexander-girard-herman-miller-videoO

IMINTERNATIONAL FOLK ART

  http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2149  September 6, 2019