They are indeed very pretty! At the Newberry, we have a Milton and a Whistler's Gentle Art that are particularly fun.

Other side of the book, in the green lined box.

And that's the book!
If you want to have a look at it @newberrylibrary.bsky.social:

VAULT Wing MS ZW 945 .S225
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...

Detail of front binding border showing it is a Riviere binding.

Label saying The Helen Swift Neilson Collection.

Helen inscription on front cover.

Who's Helen?

(Francis) Sangorski & Sutcliffe produced books similar to this one illuminated by Francis's brother Alberto Sangorski for Rivière. It's part of the Helen Swift Neilson collection at the Newberry, a writer and art collector who died in 1945, and it seems to have been made for her!

Yes

Detail of Kincade like oval view of church, cemetery, with father, child, and dog walking by.

Colophon showing the manuscript was written by Alberto Sangorski for Riviere and sons.

It's a poem by George Herbert btw, called "Sunday"...

White silk curtain opposite idyllic country scene.

White curtain between text page and page with oval view of church and graveyard.

THREE curtains, to be exact!

Book being held open to title page illumination, showing hemmed white silk curtain to protect it.

Get this... It has curtains!

Green doublures inside the book are also lovely moiré green satin!

Matchy matchy!
(Matcha?)

Open box with green moiré silk inlay and a fancy binding with gold and color frame over brown leather. Labeled Helen in gold in the center.

😋

Sliding locked book box with greenish leather.

Book Unboxing?

Don't mind if I do...

Onion on a box. I have no further Info.

Onion on an the Onion box. I have no further Info.

Tying an onion to the box as was the style at the time

Still working up to the WWII socks... But I have supplies!

Three crocheted purple octopodes, one with a pink cape and one with a jaunty floral hat.

Closeup of the larger purple one with the orange needle felted flower as a fascinator.

Finishing my printing on fabric labels today, so please watch my jaunty Octopus family for me!

#fiberarts #craft #fascinating

Edible Book Festival - Wikipedia

Lots of libraries do it! Usually around April 1...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_...

It was SO delicious!!!

This lovely first entry won an honorable mention for Rendition of a Classic, and we expect to see more in future years!

Psst, More BookFish here if you missed its origin story!
bsky.app/profile/drka...

Winner of Most Appetizing!*
😋😋

*I was entertained to see that the Poison Princess and the gelatinous BookFish each received exactly one vote each in this category!

Frame showing a classical painting on a postcard with the name of the prize on it.

Perhaps the cheesiest and crispiest of all literature (during the competition), this rendition of all of Shakespeare plays won Best Rendition of a Classic!

Slightly popup fish card.

Mine won Funniest/Punniest!

It was the first time for me. And I couldn't NOT do this topic once I realized it was Lent and that the poisson d'Avrile (April fish) is used to celebrate April First in France! I still want a copy of the 1662 BookFish book for the Newberry! THAT would be the real prize!

Tupperware with a "help yourself" more on it just past the book cake!

Perhaps predictably, Collections Services won the "Most Difficult to Catalogue" category for the second year in a row! Extra points for bringing auxiliary red velvet for snacking while judging!

View of a PowerPoint showing previous winners and me in a pretzel themed shirt about to master the ceremonies!

We collectively judged the entries (on aesthetics and cleverness), awarded prizes (more about that in the thread above), ate most of the entries, and generally had a fantastic time! Maybe it's time for YOUR library to hold one of these in 2026?
See you all next year!
📖🎂🐡

The Con Lab receiving their award!

Sign in/out board at the Conservation Lab with whiteboard marker proudly saying "Home of the Spatula Winners 2026!"

And the Golden Spatula Award (best in show) went to....

Conservation for their incredibly delicious "poison" book!

Jello-o fish in rainbow layers with book pages inside.

Edible Book Festival goers making tough voting decisions!

And the afore-mentioned...
BookFish! (Edible version of the 17th c. fish that supposedly swallowed a 16th c. book...) #ReadingRainbowTrout
6/?

Heart shaped map cake with hand drawn allegorical border.

Original 16th c heart shaped map at the Newberry!

Heart-Shaped... Map (cake)!
collections.newberry.org/asset-manage...
5/?

Should be a class requirement!

Mysterious and important!

Mini bundt cakes, a book, and kuchen bars.

Jay Gatsby's Lemon Cakes and "Jimmy" Gatz's North Dakota Kuchen
4/?

Amazing! Also, was it in fact the last song she recorded? Just saw that lore somewhere...

Filo dough take on the First Folio of Shakespeare including winking portrait of the Bard.

Newberry first folio book of Shskespeare's plays.

The First Filo-dough!

One of our very few savory offerings, an epic spanakopita worthy of Shakespeare himself! (Feel free to come look at our actual first folio in the reading room. It was NOT actually on view next to food during this competition!) #FirstFolio
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