Monday links: Where have all the Kelmscotts gone?

This copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer was bound in silver by James Brockman and Rod Kelly in 1998-2003. Image is from v.16 of Skin Deep, the newsletter of J Hewit and Sons, Ltd.

When it comes to nerdy book enthusiast news, it doesn't get much nerdier than following a census of copies of a certain edition of a book. But when the book in question is the famous Kelmscott Chaucer published by William Morris in 1896, I can't help myself.

In The Kelmscott Chaucer: A Census (Oak Knoll Press, 2011), William S. Peterson and Sylvia Holton Peterson attempted to track down all 440 copies of the original pressrun. They managed to find about two-thirds of them and wrote about each copy's history and provenance in the book. Now they maintain a blog to post updates about newly discovered copies as well as Kelmscott-related exhibits and other news.

If this appeals to you, too (or if you want to see beautiful images from the book and photos of some of the various bindings that have been performed on it over the years), check out their blog at The Kelmscott Chaucer.

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As a new thing here on the blue bluer books blog, I'm going to do a weekly roundup of links to book arts news stories that have caught my eye. It's one of my favorite features on blogs that I follow, from graphic design-themed blogs to hockey ones, so I hope that it might bring you some news that you might not find otherwise.

If you have any recommendations, please drop me a line in the comments below or contact me.

Links!:

* The Crouch Fine Arts Library at Baylor University has a special online exhibit of artists' books to celebrate Valentine's Day

* At Dimitri's Bookbinding Corner, Dimitri Koutsipetsidis describes his unique binding for a copy of Graham Masterton's novel A Terrible Beauty

* Susan Angebranndt at Green Chair Press continues her project to create a new book each week inspired by a prompt from the Dictionary.com whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giford of the day. Up this week: Neoterism!

* Speaking of weekly projects, our own local NC book artist Kathy Steinsberger is posting weekly book projects on her Paper Buttons blog.

* And keeping it local, Dave Wofford of Horse and Buggy Press riffs on his new menu design for Watts Grocery over at his blog, Side Spur Ramblings.

There were loads more to share this week, but in the interest of getting the ball rolling, let's call it a post!