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Max J. Adjarian collection
MS 324
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Title: Max J. Adjarian collection
Date (inclusive): circa 1500-1999
Collection Number: MS 324
Creator:
Adjarian, Max J.
Extent:
63.27 linear feet
(49 boxes and 20 items)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: This collection contains book binding tools and supplies, press equipment, and some business documents collected and used
by Max J. Adjarian, a Master Bookbinder and restorer.
Languages: The collection includes a number of languages including English, French, and Latin.
This collection is open for research.
Copyright Unknown: Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction,
and/or commercial use, of some materials may be restricted by gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and
publicity rights, licensing agreement(s), and/or trademark rights. Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by
copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions
apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable rights holder is also required. Responsibility for
obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
[identification of item], [date if possible]. Max J. Adjarian collection (MS 324). Special Collections & University Archives,
University of California, Riverside.
Gift of Frederick and Catherine Adjarian, 2008.
Max J. Adjarian was a Master Bookbinder specializing in conservation, preservation, and restoration of rare books, manuscripts,
codices, incunabula, and gilding during a well-travelled career spanning more than 50 years. He was born in 1929 in Paris,
France, where he spent his early years and survived the Great Depression and Nazi occupation during WWII. After the war, he
served as a paratrooper in French colonial North Africa in 1948. Max applied to and was selected for a highly competitive
position at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF), in 1949 after his military service was completed, where he was trained
as a Master Bookbinder. He spent several years working at the BNF as a restorer of rare books before venturing off to spend
the rest of his life working as an independent bookbinder, contracting and consulting with a wide range of institutions and
private individuals. Max was invited to work with the Board of Trustees at Cornell University Library to restore the rare
books in their collections as well as advise on acquisitions, conservation, and preservation. He spent four years at Cornell
before being invited to Kansas University in 1955 by their chancellor, Dr. Franklin Murphy, to restore and conserve their
rare books, codices, maps, and manuscripts. In 1960, Dr. Murphy was appointed the chancellor of UCLA and quickly invited Max
to accompany him to California. In addition to working extensively with UCLA, Max would work with a number of other academic
institutions, locally, across the country, and internationally. His clients included the University of Southern California,
The Huntington Library, Boston Historical Society, Emory University, and many more. Mr. Adjarian's artistic legacy spanned
the restoration of various bibliophilic treasures: the Gutenberg Bible; Audubon's Book of American Birds; the 1495/1619 editions
of Aristotle's Opera Omnia [by Venetian typographer Aldus Manutius]; Aldine rare books printed between 1495-1550 [from UCLA's
Ahmanson-Murphy Aldine Collection]; creating slipcases to preserve first edition Victorian fiction from the UCLA Michael T.
Sadleir Collection; plus notable restoration projects for the William Andrews Clarke Memorial Library; the UCLA Dr. Louise
M. Darling Biomedical, and Dr. Elmer Belt Vinciana Collections. Adjarian was also sought out for his expertise to work on
privately held items and collections. Max relocated to Tucson, AZ in the mid-1990s where he continued operating his bindery
and completing client projects until his death in 2002.
This biographical note was written in collaboration with Fred Adjarian in 2023.
Max J. Adjarian was a Master Bookbinder and restorer, trained in Paris, who worked primarily in the United States during his
50+ year career. This collection is comprised of some of the tools, supplies and materials that he used in his craft. The
contents of the collection include hand-tools, such as: compositors, burnishing wheels, gilding tools, cutting tools, layout
and design tools, and more. There are also typesets, book boards, leather, vellum, marbled endpaper, paper scraps from prior
disbinding/rebinding projects, bookplates, gold leaf, and other supplies and materials used in book binding. Several pieces
of bindery equipment and presses were also donated as part of the collection (these larger pieces are not readily accessible
for viewing).
The Max J. Adjarian collection is arranged into 4 series, as outlined below. The bulk of the items in Series 1 and 2 are housed
in small boxes that are then collected in larger, numbered boxes.
- Series 1. Tools
- Series 2. Supplies & Materials
- Series 3. Bindery Equipment
- Series 4. Bindery Documents
A number of tool and equipment identifications, along with their uses, were done in consultation with Fred Adjarian, son of
Max J. Adjarian and one of the donors of the collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Bookbinding
Clippings (information artifacts)
Tools