Decker Library

What are you reading this summer? Here’s some of our faves 🤗 Don’t forget to log each day you read on your summer reading game board!

Special Collections Spotlight! 🔦

Title: Biobay Crankie
Book Artist: Jessica White

"This is a hand-printed scroll housed in a wooden box with a hand-cranking mechanism, all individually made. This crankie is about kayaking through Biobay in Puerto Rico, where bioluminescent bacteria glow as you make your way through the mangrove forest into the open bay. They speckled as small dots and made me feel like I could hold the stars. Linoleum cut printed on Japanese Kozo paper, printed in an edition of 30. The text is letterpress printed from metal type. It measures approximately 7" high by 9" wide by 3" deep." -- Artist's website.

Books in Decker Library’s Special Collections can be viewed by appointment only.

Special Collections Spotlight! 🔦

Title: Transpose/Tahawool/تحول
Book Artist: Islam Aly

"'Transpose' is a bilingual book in English and Arabic that investigates talismanic shirts. A worn textile that was believed to offer protection and guidance to the carrier. Historically there were various uses for the talismanic shirts; they could be worn as a shield in battles, during illness, used as protective amulets, and produced for ceremonial purposes. They would have a distinctive vocabulary, a mixture of religious texts, sacred invocations, symbols, magic squares, and seal markings. In 'Transpose', seven pamphlets taking the shapes of shirts are designed and enclosed in the box. Each invokes a different wish: Power, Celebration, Magic, Prosperity, Affection, Peace, and Health. 'Transpose' reveals how garments embed our backgrounds, experiences, decisions, and memories allowing us to live through each garment. The book challenges the notion of power and privilege. Traditionally, these shirts were dedicated to the elite and kept protected in drawers and boxes. Transpose makes these wishes unrestricted for viewers to be rearranged and reordered in various ways according to their preference. After taking away all the pamphlets, the viewer can read a quote on the inner side of the box, emphasizing a greater meaning to each shirt." - Artist’s statement.

Books in Decker Library’s Special Collections can be viewed by appointment only. Scheduling link in bio.