Mindell Dubansky
Mindell Dubansky (b. 1954) is a book conservator, librarian, author, and artist. She is Museum Librarian for Preservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Thomas J.
Watson Library. Mindell studied art in college and eventually the craft of hand bookbinding. After an apprenticeship at Center for Book Arts in the 1970s, Mindell studied book conservation at the Camberwell School of Art and Craft; and Librarianship/Preservation Administration at Columbia. She has authored monographs on blooks, and book and paper arts including Pattern and Flow: A Golden Age of American Decorated Paper (2023), Blooks: The Art of Books That Aren’t (2016), and The Proper Decoration of Book Covers. The Life and Work of Alice C. Morse (2008). Her research on—and collection of—blooks have been featured in exhibitions at the Grolier Club, The San Francisco Center for the Book, and Bard College; in The New York Times; and on CBS Sunday Morning. You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
Want to learn more about Blooks?
Mindell Dubansky organized the exhibition: Western Bookbinding 1491-1929
More information about Mindell Dubansky can be found here: Reminiscences of a Bookbinder
Mindell Dubansky’s work was exhibited in:
30 Years of Innovation: A Survey of Exhibition History at The Center for Book Arts, 1974-2004
Organized by Jae Jennifer Rossman, Special Collections Librarian, Arts Library, Yale University.
The Crown Jewels
(1981) 23.5 X 18.4 X 5.1 cm. Photobook necklace and earrings of gold tooled Nigerian goatskin and beads in hand decorated paper box lined with crepe de Chine.
Fall Forward
an exhibition featuring current faculty
The Candy Button Book & Box
(1997) 3 1/2 x 13 1/4 x 3 3/4 inches. Candy buttons, mousetraps, handwriting on mylar. Edition of 20.
Book Arts in the USA
an exhibition of work by 51 artists; a cultural presentation of the United States of America
The Crown Jewels
(1981) Photobook necklace and earrings of gold tooled Nigerian goatskin and beads in hand decorated paper box lined with crepe de Chine.
Book Artchitecture
an exhibition in which the structure of the book supports the metaphor of the content or is the content
Bookini
(1985) One size fits all. Mixed media.
Center for Book Arts: The First Decade
an exhibition at The New York Public Library
The Crown Jewels
(1982) 9 1/4 x 7 1/4 x 2 inches. Nigerian goatskin, decorative papers, photographs, collage.
The Book
seven artists/different visions
Elvis Book and Blue Suede Shoe Box
(1978) 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches. Book–cotton embroidery cover with black and white photographs. 5 x 4 3/4 x 2 inches. Box–blue suede, mother-of-pearl buttons and golden thread. Unique.
Iris Album
(1978) 11 7/8 x 9 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches. Canson Mi-Tienes paper inside, John Koller paper. Cover watercolor by MD on Roma, Oasis goat skin spine. Unique.
Skull of Adam by Stanley Moss
(1979) 8 3/8 x 5 5/8 x 9/16 inches. Silver and gold thread, woven strips of handmade paper by Douglas Howell, Strathmore charcoal paper. Unique.
Water Lily Book (and box)
(1978) book 8 x 6 x 1/2 inches; box 9 x 7 x 1 inches. Handmade linen paper by Antonia Weil, made from the same cloth as cover, linen binding with cotton embroidery. Unique.
Wood engravings — a portfolio
(1978) 9 1/8 x 6 1/4 x 1/2 inches. Richard de Bas handmade paper cover, Stonehenge inside paper, engravings by MD. Unique.
Your Ideal Love Mate – a TV scroll
(1980) 15 5/8 x 10 3/4 x 4 inches. Bookcloth and linen box, decorative paper handles, mylar, mixed media scroll. Unique.
Book Makers
Center for Book Arts first five years
Binding for Stanley Moss’ “Skull of Adam”
(1979) 8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches. Sewn case binding with linen spine, hand made paper cover with stitching.
Elvis Book
(1977) 5 x 4 3/4 x 2 1/4 inches. Embroidered book of photographs in a blue suede shoe box.
