About
Celestine Rare Book Conservation Service: St. Celestine is the patron saint of bookbinders and that’s the reason I decided to call my business "Celestine Rare Book Conservation Service." It all began about twenty-five years ago when I started to think about what I really wanted to do in life. It had become obvious to me that my artistic work was leading nowhere and my literary dreams weren’t practical. I thought about what I really enjoyed and saw that it was reading and books. I had collected a rather large library of mostly older books. There were times when certain books needed to be repaired.I had sought out bookbinders and had things restored. I was satisfied, but it was expensive. I began to think that maybe I could save on this expense by learning how to restore them myself. While working as a security guard at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the paper conservator, David Dudley, told me abut a formal program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City .I applied to the Master Bookbinder Bill Anthony, and I was accepted as an intern. That blissful existence continued for four years, first under Mr. Anthony and later under Pamela Spitzemueller, now at Harvard, resulting in my receiving a four year rare book conservation certificate from the University of Iowa. People in Iowa liked my work and Pam suggested, after my internship was over, that I try for a Library of Congress internship. I jumped at the chance and was delighted when I was accepted. While in Washington D.C., I worked on many projects. The two most interesting were for exhibitions from the collections of the Vatican, and for one for an exhibition of some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. After a year of study I returned to the Twin Cities and opened my own business. Eventually I moved to Wisconsin and moved my business to Clear Lake. - Ralph Weber, Rare Book Conservator |
A Partial List of Celestine Rare Book
Conservation Service Clients: University of St. Catherine St. Paul, Minnesota Wisconsin Historical Society Madison, Wisconsin University of Minnesota Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota James Ford Bell Library (U of M) Children's Literature & Research Collection (U of M) Special Collection (U of M) Landscape Arboretum (U of M) Many Private Individuals |