Don Etherington. Bookbinding & Conservation: A Sixty-Year Odyssey of Art and Craft. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 2010. 156p. $49.95 (ISBN 9781584562771). LC2010-007366

the rest of the book, she illustrates these weaknesses effectively while applying the insights gained from both approaches. She is invariably thorough, sensible, and sensitive when analyzing ethical challenges that can arise when acquiring or deaccessioning materials, providing equitable access, protecting the privacy of patrons and donors, authenticating materials , and determining the circumstances in which displaced archives should be relocated. In addition, her writing is clear, engaging, and imbued with a devotion to her professional values. No doubt her many years of experience have tempered idealism with realism, but not to the point of cynicism. When she convincingly demonstrates at many junctures that establishing " a standard of integrity that inspires confidence in the documentary record " is neither easy nor safe, Danielson goes on to argue eloquently why ensuring such integrity is what the archivist profession should be about. While the author takes pains to distinguish between the ethical challenges that are unique to archivists as opposed to librarians or historians, members of the latter disciplines will find as much value here as will archivists. It is difficult to imagine a better written or more thorough and thoughtful work on such thorny issues. " Masterpiece " is an appropriate description.—W. At first blush, Etherington's book appears threadbare for a memoir. It is neither a behind-the-scenes tell-all nor an in-depth treatise on bookbinding. In John MacKrell's introduction to a gallery of the author's design bindings, Etherington is characterized as " much too unassuming to call attention to this wonderful work. " Likewise, an unassuming tone permeates this autobiography, and so it is perhaps too easy to classify it as the simple story of a craftsman. The craftsman was also an artist; and, while the narrative does nothing to advance this fact, the fifty or so full-color plates of his design bindings convey it with eloquence. Etherington mentions many famous book people in passing, and often one wants a bit more in terms of lore and gossip, but that is neither his style nor his purpose. It is less about name-dropping and more about an acknowledgement of people who have been friends and influences along the way, and the impressive career he was able to construct with their help. In terms of binding history, the account of his early years is most valuable. This is expressed in the Foreword by Bernard Middleton, initially one of Ether-ington's examiners (as an apprentice) …