In partnership with McMaster University Library, the McMaster Museum of Art proudly presents The Art of the Book, an exhibition celebrating the generosity of Rabbi Bernard Baskin, a household name in the Hamilton community. Over the years, the Rabbi has donated nearly 1000 volumes to the Library at McMaster, and to the Museum, hundreds of works of art by his brother, the well known American sculptor, printmaker and private press editor, Leonard Baskin (1922 – 2000).

Books are more than a passing fascination for Rabbi Baskin. They represent a way of life mirroring the wonder and complexity of human creation. For fifty years he has been an assiduous book collector, and in that time has amassed 10,000 books. For years, he was the proprietor of Ibis Books and Arts, an antiquarian bookselling firm that specialized in Judaica, typography, private press books, pre-1800 books and manuscripts, illustrated books, art and the occult. Selections of this rare material will foreground the exhibition content, while supporting volumes and prints from the Museum’s collection will round out the story of Baskin, the collector.

Born in New Jersey, Rabbi Bernard Baskin graduated with a B.A. degree from Brooklyn College and with a Masters of Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. He came to Hamilton’s Temple Anshe Sholom, the oldest Reform Congregation in Canada, over 60 years ago. The Rabbi is now retired and lives in Hamilton.

The Art of the Book has been curated by Renu Barrett, Archivist, Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University and is on view at the McMaster Museum of Art, until December 20, 2014.