TELLURIDE – The American Academy of Bookbinding and the Ah Haa School for the Arts are hosting a presentation by Renate Mesmer of the Folger Shakespeare Library titled “The Folger Shakespeare Library and the Preservation of Books.” The presentation with an accompanying slideshow will be held on Thursday, April 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the East Room of the Ah Haa School’s Depot Building.

Mesmer is currently in Telluride teaching book conservation classes at the American Academy of Bookbinding. She works at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. where she is Assistant Head of Conservation. The Folger has the world’s largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials as well as major collections of other rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art.

The Folger is a world-renowned research center on Shakespeare and on the early modern age in the West. Its conservation lab is a leading innovator in the preservation of rare materials. Its well-known public programs include plays, concerts, literary readings, family activities, and exhibitions, as well as numerous K-12 and college programs for students and teachers. Advanced scholars participate in a variety of Folger Institute seminars and colloquia.

Mesmer has been at the Folger for six years. Prior to that she was the director of the Book and Paper Conservation Program at Centro del bel Libro in Ascona, Switzerland. She has a master’s in bookbinding from the Chamber of Crafts of Palatinate in Germany.

Find out more about what goes on behind the scenes at the Folger’s conservation lab during this special presentation. For more information, call 728-8649.