Bookbinding

This morning we took the bus to the Central Library to sign the Book of Condolence for the Queen - in the emotion of the occasion completely forgetting the neat phrase I had intended to write and ended up with a mere Thank You.

Then to the National Library opposite for the café (excellent scones), and the exhibition, which was partly on the subject of bookbinding, showing the winners of the Elizabeth Souter biennial competition, on a theme of 'Scotland's Stories'. Who knew what diversity could be achieved in binding a book! 

The display case had a range of the tools required, which I found particularly interesting as William Hutton, whose autobiography I am (still) reading, in 1749 walked from Nottingham to London to procure the required equipment new, replacing poor quality second-hand tools and bindings that he had purchased from his bookseller.

The other part in the exhibition area was on the subject of the pseudonym, with the question 'if you were to write a book, would you use your own name or a chosen alternative?' To me the answer is obvious - 'any other name but my own', since my name has been made famous by a film star. However, the exhibition gives many examples of writers in both categories, some quite surprising, also asking the question 'should we know the real name of a writer even though they use a pseudonym?'.
I leave you to your own opinion on that!