Credits
Credits
Exhibition organized, designed, and written by Sara J. Fackrell
Digital exhibition designed by Sara J. Fackrell
Edited by Claire Battershill and Andreea Marin
Installation by Sara J. Fackrell and Mary Fackrell
I am immensely grateful to so many people for their support of and enthusiasm for this project.
First, to Claire Battershill, for all of your guidance, thoughtful advice, and theoretical musings, in this project and throughout my graduate studies; it has been such an honour to work with and be mentored by you. To Bascove, thank you for allowing me into your creative world, for being so giving of your time and your work, and for donating the woodblocks and other materials that were the catalyst of this project. I’m delighted to have met and worked with you on this.
To Andreea Marin, Head Librarian at the Robertson Davies Library, for thinking of me for this exhibition, and for allowing me to run with it and make it my own. To Stephen Sword (whose knowledge of printing and typography history truly defies belief), for pointing me in the direction of one of the best illustrations of colour separation I’ve come across, and for volunteering your time and energy in the Bib Room, so that students like me can learn to print by hand. To Chana Algarvio, Assistant Librarian at the RDL and Kristy Wheaton, of U of T Libraries User Services, for working out a long-term loan from the Robarts collection. To Rebekah Bedard, Distinctive Collections Librarian at the John Graham Library (Trinity College), for agreeing to loan out the Marseilles tarot deck in their care.
To my colleagues at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library: to Natalya Rattan, for her advice on acquiring reproduction and publication permissions; and to Maia Balint, who advised me on mounting several of the books on display, and allowed me to borrow from the Library's stock of display mounts. To Kit MacNeil, Head Printer at the John Kelly Library Print Studio (St. Michael’s College), for the leads on hand-coloured books in the RDL collection, and to my fellow Printing Apprentices, Camila and Caleb, for their cheerleading and cheerful presence during our hours in the Studio together.
To Tom Kerr, for your unwavering encouragement, for bearing with me while this project took over my life (and our apartment) for the term, and for the books you let me borrow for display.
Letters from Robertson Davies to Bascove published with permission from Bascove, and the Estate of Robertson Davies.
Copyright for all other materials in this digital exhibition remains with the original creators.
Sara J. Fackrell (she/they) is a recent graduate of the Master of Information at the University of Toronto, specializing in Book History and Print Culture. Sara currently works as a Graduate Student Library Assistant in the conservation lab at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, where she engages directly with the care and study of rare materials. They are also completing a BHPC printing apprenticeship at the John M. Kelly Library Print Studio. Their work is grounded in a combination of hands-on book arts practice and scholarly research into the history of the book.
In addition to their academic and library work, Sara is a graphic designer, printmaker, and bookmaker, and operates a small imprint known as the Library of Shapes. Her creative practice is informed by a sustained interest in material culture and analogue design processes, including historical techniques such as letterpress printing, as well as experimental engagements with the relationship between physical and digital media. Through both making and research, Sara explores how material forms of knowledge can be translated and reimagined across different contexts.
Sara’s research and professional interests include the book arts, artists' books, print culture, and and feminist and queer (re)examinations of book work and book history. Their work reflects a commitment to hands-on engagement with materials, and to understanding the book as a site where design, labour, and social histories intersect.
More of Sara's work can be found at sarafackrell.com.
For questions or comments about the exhibition, please reach out to Sara at hello@sarafackrell.com.
If you have questions about the Robertson Davies Library and its collections, contact Librarian Andreea Marin at andreea.marin@masseycollege.ca.
For more information on similar exhibitions, visit the Exhibitions page of the Massey College website.