Volume 12, Number 2
Feb 1988

Editor's Page

Rules Changed Again For Foreign Checks

Just when we think we have it all figured out, the banks change the rules of the game. They have been getting more strict in recent years because of increasing numbers of bad checks and other abuses of the system. It used to be that they would accept foreign checks, as long as they were written in American dollars--Canadian checks anyhow. Then they started requiring the name of a U.S. bank printed on the check, in addition to the name of the issuing bank. Otherwise they would "send it for collection" all the way back to where it came from, and charge us about $10. Now they won't even send it for collection unless it is over $50. As a result, there is no way to use an ordinary check to pay for a subscription if you live in a foreign country.

One alternative is an international postal money order. Another is to go to a bank that does overseas business, and ask their advice about sending the money. Another is still just a possibility: Abbey Publications has applied to VISA for a permit to accept payments on VISA and MasterCharge cards. Another is to prepay $50 or more, including payment for two or more years, or for back issues, or for two or more people's subscriptions.

A Correction For Northwestern' S Listing

Russell Maylone has kindly sent in the complete and corrected information for Item #8 in the piece on "Special Collections on Books & Paper" (AN, Oct. 1987, p. 112). It should read as follows:

8. Northwestern University Library, Special Collections Department, 1935 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 (312/491-3635) [not 492-3635]. The library collects in the book arts and has several hundred unusual bindings, 15th C to contemporary, as well as reference books. Open to the public; interlibrary loan service available.

Corrections On Citations For Reviewed Books

The two books reviewed by Margit J. Smith in the December issue (French's Bookbinding in Early America and the 2nd edition of Early American Bookbindings from the Collection of Michael Papantonio) are published by the American Antiquarian Society, not the American Philosophical Society; and they are distributed not by AAS but by the University Press of Virginia, Box 3608, University Station, Charlottesville, VA 22903.

The Abbey Newsletter: Bookbinding and Conservation is issued eight tines a year and has about 1100 subscribers. New subscribers automatically receive all issues published in the current year, unless they request otherwise. All subscriptions expire on the last day of the year. To initiate or renew a subscription, send $35 (full-time students $20), or the equivalent in � sterling to Abbey Newsletter, 320 E. Center, Provo, UT 84601 (801/373-1598).

No paid advertisements are accepted, but any notice that is appropriate and has news value will be printed if there is room for it. Written contributions and bits of news are welcome. Claims for issues never received, or received in damaged condition, will be honored within a year of publication.

The Abbey Newsletter is selectively indexed in Art & Archaeology Technical Abstracts, the Institute of Paper Chemistry Abstract Bulletin and Graphic Arts Literature Abstracts (RIT). It is not indexed in the usual periodical indexes because it is a newsletter. All issues but v.1 #2 are in print, and all volumes come with an index.

The Editor encourages readers to copy and pass around any article from the Newsletter, even entire issues; but before copying any part on a scale that amounts to republication (say 20 or more), they must obtain permission from both author and Editor.