A Degree of Mastery: A Journey through Book Arts Apprenticeship
Borrowing a narrative technique from fiction writers, Wilcox alternates between the telling of two stories: a detailed account of just how you handle a book that needs restoration, set against the author's recollection of her experience as the first woman apprentice to the master bookbinder William Anthony at the University of Iowa. Wilcox has the craftsperson's eye for texture and nuance. This is a love story of sorts, although there is not a shred of sentimentality: the love of the apprentice for the teachings of a master; the love of the artist for the right tools; the love of the restorer for the object that needs care. When Anthony dies before Wilcox's apprenticeship is complete, we can see how his teachings have prepared her to finish the journey on her own. Controlled and unadorned, her chastely sumptuous prose pares experience like leather, so that the acts she chooses to illuminate for us--the art and act of teaching, the activity of learning, the relationship of tools to action--are silken and supple.GraceAnne A. DeCandido--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.