Author: Jeff Peachey

Book conservator, tool maker, book historian.
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The Ascent And Descent Of Man

ascent-of-man-2

The above photo is from Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 124, No. 6, June 1934, p. 35.  This is an early depiction of the ascent of man, and it is taken from the Peabody Museum of Natural History, at Yale University.  It was featured in a section of the magazine that reports on new Science news, so it must have been fairly recently installed.  The succession is gibbon, orangutan, chimpanzee, gorilla and human.

Recently, I saw the sign below on 23rd. St., NYC, and it was an ad for some online food ordering company.   I thought it was clever in depicting technological tool use, and how we become dependent on the increasing size of our tools, thus returning us to our protohuman stature?

descent of man

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The Thread That Binds: A Book Review

I recently reviewed “The Thread that Binds: Interviews with Private Practice Bookbinders” by Pamela Train Leutz in The Bonefolder, Volume 6, No. 2, Spring 2010.  Here is the beginning of the review:

“In a field as small as bookbinding, a book reviewer occupies a precarious position, since they often have personal knowledge of, if not direct relations with, the author. At the very least, the reviewer and author are usually connected by a friend, or friend of a friend. So reviewing a book that includes interviews with 21 of leading bookbinders currently working in the field places this author in a position beyond precarious – an ideal chance to anger friends, alienate acquaintances and antagonize colleagues. The book even featured a long, highly complementary blurb from the publisher of this journal, Peter Verheyen on the back cover.

Foregrounded by these preoccupations, my hands trembled as I unwrapped my review copy…”

Read the entire review here.

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Round Knives

round knife

I noticed this egyptian relief of sandal makers in the Archeological Museum of Florence.  It dates from the 36-30th Dynasty, 664-343 BC.  The round  knife pictured in the middle has changed very little in the past 25 centuries.  Below is a modern one that CS Osborne makes, which according to one web site has been the world’s best selling 5 inch round knife since 1826.

csorndknftn2