Exhibition of Book-like Objects Opens at at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Maker unknown, mechanical singing bird box in book form, German, mid-20th century, silver, feathers. 12.3 x 8.3 x 4.1 cm. Gift of Lynn and Bruce Heckman, 2023
Emulating Books: Book Objects from the Lynn and Bruce Heckman Gift is a fascinating new exhibition opening today which features a wide range of items which look like books but aren't.
Running through July 16 in the Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it explores inventive book-like objects which have been made from stone, wood, and precious metal, and serving as lockets, lanterns, toys, and needlework accessories.
The exhibition features examples from the Heckman collection, a gift to the Thomas J. Watson Library from Lynn Geringer Heckman who started collecting book-like objects - sometimes known as 'blooks' - with her late husband Bruce Heckman in 1989, putting together more than 1,000 items.
Highlights (all in book form) include domino and alphabet games, a folding stereoscopic viewer, a snake trick, a child's paint box, a travelling inkwell, and an Agate book charm which is probably a watch fob.
![Maker unknown, graduated, three-tiered, footed box in book form c. 1870. American [Maine], painted wood (yellow poplar, birch). 18.0 x 23.0 x 16.3 cm. Gift of Lynn and Bruce Heckman, 2023](https://cdn.finebooksmagazine.com/sites/default/files/media-images/2024-04/2.jpg)
