Shaun Thompson, a bookbinder at Cambridge University Library, has been chosen as the recipient of this year’s Nicholas Hadgraft Memorial Scholarship. Now in its eighth year, the coveted scholarship awarded by Conservation By Design (CXD) offers UKP1500 towards the cost of attending the Montefiascone Book Conservation Summer School; a unique bookbinding course held each year in the medieval town of Montefiascone, Italy. The school runs for four weeks during July and August, 2012 and each week features a different course and tutor. Shaun intends to use his scholarship to attend two courses one addressing Glazier Codex, a 5th and 6th Century Coptic binding system, and the other exploring the history of Spanish gothic wooden binding structures in the “Mudejar” style.
The entries this year were so impressive that for the first time ever, a runner-up prize was also awarded. Mark Furness, a bookbinder from Manchester, demonstrated considerable skill and enthusiasm for his craft, so will be attending his preferred course at the summer school, which will look at the construction of a typical full calf late eighteenth century French binding.
The scholarship is offered in memory of Dr Nicholas Hadgraft, a good friend of Conservation By Design who died tragically in 2004. Nicholas was a fellow of the University of the Arts London and a key collaborator on the “Squelch Drying” technique devised by Stuart Welch (the founder of CXD), the most effective way to date of drying valuable rare books.