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3/20/00

SLU LIBRARIES CELEBRATE 'THE BOOK' WITH TWO EVENTS

CANTON -- While some have declared the death of the book in the 
computer age, two events planned at St. Lawrence University's libraries 
will celebrate its relevance in contemporary life.
	On Monday, April 3, the acquisition of the libraries' 500,000th 
volume -- an edition of The Circus of Dr. Lao illustrated by book artist 
Claire Van Vliet -- will be celebrated with a talk by Van Vliet. The 
event will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Owen D. Young Library and followed 
by a reception.
	Written by Charles B. Finney and first published in 1935, The 
Circus of Dr. Lao has been called "half dream, half nightmare" and an 
"authentic American classic." The edition produced by Van Vliet's Janus 
Press has been described as "one of the finest American private-press 
books." Limited to 150 copies printed on handmade paper and illustrated 
by relief etchings, the edition is an exciting juxtaposition of text and 
image.
	Van Vliet has been at the forefront of the movement to explore 
and rediscover the versatility of the physical book for over 30 years. 
In 1989, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes called a "genius 
grant."
	Also on April 3, tours of St. Lawrence libraries' new special 
collections area will be given beginning at 3 p.m., focusing on the new 
book arts press in Owen D. Young Libarary.
	Overseen by private press printer and Special Collections Librarian 
Mark McMurray, the press offers students and faculty a laboratory in which 
they may explore topics in the history of the book, print culture and 
independent study projects.
	This semester, the course Print Culture in Early Modern Europe is 
being taught by McMurray and Piskor Professor of English Thomas Berger. 
Students in the course transcribe poems from Elizabethan manuscripts, set 
the poems in type and produce a "chapbook" as a way of exploring the transmission 
of text from manuscript to print.
	Tours will also include the new Frank and Anne Piskor Reading Room.

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