The Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial Exhibition and
Award for American Bookbinding

During the last half of the twentieth century, Helen Warren DeGolyer was a well-known supporter of education and the arts in Dallas. She was also an artist herself, particularly skilled at the art of bookbinding. In 1996, the brother of Mrs. DeGolyer, Joseph Warren, and Mrs. DeGolyer’s children, Everett Lee DeGolyer and Edith DeGolyer, fulfilled her testamentary wishes, and established an endowment to support the Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial at Bridwell Library, as well as donating Mrs. DeGolyer’s collection of fine bindings to Bridwell Library, which included over twenty-five of her own design bindings. The triennial takes place in conjunction with a national conference on the book arts at Bridwell Library in late spring.

The Helen Warren DeGolyer Exhibition and Award for American Bookbinding challenges binders of all levels to submit a design for an important book in Bridwell’s collections and a recent example of their work.  The DeGolyer Award winner receives a commission to bind the book. In addition to the  commission, awards for technique and design will be presented. A jury comprised of binding historians, librarians, and the previous winner of the DeGolyer Award will judge the entries on artistic merit and innovation in design, as well as excellence in structure, workmanship, and selection and use of materials. The competition is open to U.S. citizens.

The  triennial exhibition is a juried show drawn from the competition and takes place in the Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Galleries of Bridwell Library . The exhibition consists of both completed example bindings and the proposed designs for the book in question chosen from competition entries for inclusion by the jury. A full-color catalog accompanies the exhibit.

The next triennial will take place in 2009.
 

2006 Calendar and Competition

Previous Books

2006

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). Ficciones. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Dos Amigos, 1987. Illustrated by Gabriela Aberastury, Julio Pagnao, Mirta Ripoll, Raúl Russo, and Alicia Scavino. Copy number 26 of 42. 26 x 33.5 cm.

2003

Mark Twain (1835-1910). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. West Hatfield, MA: Pennyroyal Press, 1985.  Illustrated by Barry Moser.  Foreward by Henry Nash Smith.  32.4 x 25.4 cm.

2000

James Joyce (1882-1941).  Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922. Printed for Sylvia Beach by Maurice Darantière at Dijon. First edition, no. 313 of 1000 copies. 23 X 18 cm.

1997

The Book of Common Prayer and the Administration of the Sacrament and Other Rights and Ceremonies of the Church According to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David ([Boston]: Printed for the Commission, 1928 [issued 1930]). Five hundred paper copies and twelve vellum copies printed by David Berkeley Updike. Vellum. Bridwell Library Special Collections. 36 x 25 cm.
 

Previous Winners

Online Exhibition