The Ripple Effect.

 

My biblionautic chums and friends.

The Ripple Effect..........

A number of years ago, 2016, June, to be a little more precise I was hosting free (yes, I did say free) workshops at the ABA (Antiquarian Booksellers Association, UK) event in London, making a hard bound, single section book. Pamphlet stitch sewn. We learnt, we laughed, we enjoyed the making, the meeting, the sharing. After each workshop the participants would disappear in to the ebb and flow of the visitors, the gawkers, the hawkers and collectors.

A couple of days ago I received an email from one of the participants. A lady form the fair continent of Australia. The lady along with her daughter had attended one of the workshops, made their books and had left happy.

If I may add, at this point, I always try to give some background information to the work in the workshops I deliver. In this case the humble pamphlet. Here begins the lesson...Books can and do have such an impact on our lives. The book is a common language understood as a medium for communication in nearly every culture in the world.

The pamphlet is a basic book a few folds of printed paper, no cover, either stab sewn or spine sewn with a simple quick 3 hole stitch.

They are cheap to make which is important. In the 17th to 19th centuries printing presses were easy to get hold of and pamphlets became a very important means of mass political, literary and individual communication. With Pamphleteers distributing pamphlets across Europe and much further afield Ideas etc were carried with them as leaves are carried in the wind. At a time of upheaval, the pamphlet and the pamphleteers were in the vanguard of political and revolutionary change. They were, in short, the SocMed of their day.

So we have to imagine my delight, in that what we shared that day back in June 2016 was put to use.

"I loved the small hard cover pamphlet book my daughter and I did with you. I have done many (over 50 I think) larger size ones since using up my papers and paste papers and these were sold at Parliament House to mostly Labor (sorry about the fact we can’t spell in this country) politicians to raise funds for Doctors without Borders and Emily's Fund which helps fund campaigns to get more women in parliament. So in a way you have had an impact without knowing it." Thank you WT Australia.

I am so pleased, so happy to know that even a simple workshop can have a ripple effect and for causes that I am sure the Pamphleteers past, present and in the future would be in agreement with, as am I.

Please note there are other ways of doing things, along with opinions..... spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind... of sorts...