TORONTO—The Alcuin Society, a voluntary association comprising people with an interest in fine books, has announced that Will Rueter, founder of Aliquando Press, will be the recipient of the 2013 Robert R. Reid Award and Medal for lifetime achievement in the book arts.

Rueter is a private printer, hand binder, and printmaker living in Dundas, Ontario. He studied at the City Literary Institute, London, England, and the Ontario College of Art, according to the Society, which added from 1965 to 1998 he worked as a graphic designer specializing in book design and as senior designer at the University of Toronto Press.


He established his private press in 1963. Work of The Aliquando Press won an honorary diploma at the Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt exhibition in Leipzig in 1987 and a bronze medal at the Internationale Buchkunstausstellung 1989. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art and is a past nominee for the Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in the Crafts, according to the Society.

Rueter "explores the media of wood engraving and linocut in some of his own books, and is challenged by the technique of monoprint," noted the Society. (Monoprint is a one-off printmaking technique.)

Rueter will be one of the three judges at next year's annual book design competition in March 2013, The Alcuin Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The award and medal will be presented in 2013.

In other Alcuin Society news, the Society is holding a full-day symposium entitled The [New/Old] Book, at the Vancouver Public Library on Oct. 18, 2012 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its national book design competition.

The symposium will feature prominent designers speaking during the day, including Marian Bantjes, Peter Cocking, Shelley Gruendler, Kevin Larson, Eric Menninga, Talent Pun and Selma Zafar.

The keynote presentation following the evening awards ceremony will be delivered by well-known book designer Chip Kidd.

For further information, and to register, visit alcuinsociety.com or contact info@alcuinsociety.com.