The Daily Tar Heel from Chapel Hill, North Carolina • Page 12

focus' 1 I ookbinding Area man uses ancient art form to save rare volumes 7 i Handcrafted bicycles custom-fitted for racing, touring By KIMBERLY McGUIRE By LYNN JOHNSON From the porch of his log cabin on a secluded 10-acre tract of land near Chapel Hill, George Baer can sit and watch the world go by. And at 76, with a full life behind him, no one can really blame him for taking it easy. But Baer has chosen to perpetuate an interest in and an appreciation for an art in which he is world renown as a master craftsman fine bookbinding. "I am like a fossil now," Baer says, referring to his age and the fact that most of his friends are dead. The analogy would be more appropriate in reference to the value of the man responsible for preserving this art form.

Baer's work and knowledge of the craft has endured and is now invaluable. Among the priceless volumes of literature and ancient manuscripts Baer had bound during his life are a Swiss book published in 1782, a vellum schooling and work that were required to earn sucn a title. Baer was educated in Europe and he worked in Germany, Greece and Switzerland before coming to the United States in 1948. Eventually he went to work for the Cuneo Press in Chicago, where he stayed 24 years and gained a reputation as one of the finest hand-binders in the world. Single examples of his work have sold for as much as $3,000 to such prominent patrons as Queen Juliana of Holland, the President of France, and Pope Pious XII.

Baer came to Chapel Hill in 1977 to Visit his son Tomas, who teaches in the chemistry department and to -scape the cruel Chicago winters. "I was suffering from the cold and from shoveling all the snow," he said. "I found Chapel Hill a paradise and decided to retire here. So I took the small pension I got from the company and built my house." Baer lives on his social security checks and what he receives for His work at the University. He still finds time to bind about one book a month for customers.

Most orders are for a plain cover for some personal, commemorative volume. Baer charges around 1 50 for the less decorative bindings and said there are very few people who can afford the more elaborate ones. "the work is much harder now that I am old," he says. "It is difficult for me to stand for any length of time without getting very tired." Baer's knowledge of his craft is readily evident to his friends, patrons and students But even more obvious is the warmth and sincerity of a man whose dedication to a vanishing art has an enriching influence on the community. In this way, all of his work, whether plain or decorative, is priceless.

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V.y. i 1 r- 4 1 my collection was immediately put on exhibition in the Planetarium rotunda for three months." In the workshop of his cabin, which he built almost single-handedly when he came here at 70, Baer continues what he has been doing for more than 50 years producing exquisitely bound volumes, restoring damaged covers and making protective cases for rare editions. His services are utilized by Duke University as well as by UNC. Dr. Paul Koda, head of the rare book collection in Wilson Library, calls Baer's work the best in the country.

Hand-binding, one of the oldest of the graphic arts, entails the use of fine leathers and gold tooling with touches such as decorative end papers and colored inlays. The sight and feel of a hand-bound book is especially exciting to a book lover, and Baer has thrilled popes, presidents and many other illustrative patrons with his magnificent handiwork, which has won recognition in leading exhibitions here and abroad. A description of Baer's course entitled "Bookbinding for Beginners," is contained in a list of special-interest courses offered by the University this fall. The description notes that the course is taught by a master bookbinder. It does not mention that Baer is one of less than ten people in the United States who has the title.

Nor would there be room to detail the years of I I manuscript he hand-printed and bound in wooden WWWZWi covers as it would have been bound in some medieval monastery, and a Christmas book bound in white goatskin for Pope Pius XII. His work now may be slower ai more mundane in subject than it was 50 years ago, but he remains enamored of his work and grateful that people in Chapel Hill appreciate this fine art. "I have only been here since 1972, but everybody knows me," he says in an accent that reflects his German heritage. "When I first came to Chapel Hill, tfyyyyymy.yyyy It 4' "It certainly takes discipline, but I'm a real workaholic, so I'm usually in here 10 to 12 hours a day." McLean answers orders from around the country, and very little of his business actually comes from the Chapel Hill area. The most common price for a McLean cycle is $1,100.

Because of that, he said, his customers are special. "Somebody looking for transportation or a quick answer to the gas shortage will buy a $100 Jbike before they'll approach me for a custom model," McLean said. His business has not been affected by the recent energy crunch. "I remember my biggest week so far was the first week in May of this year. I got so many orders then that I'm still building those frames," McLean said.

Usually, he has each order filled within five weeks. Some frames take longer than others, like the elaborate racing cycles that must be light and mechanically flawless. "My bikes have been raced quite successfully," McLean said. "There is an obvious advantage to the criterion-racing model that's custom-fitted to work for the rider." McLean takes pride in his expertise and says he hasn't had any complaints from customers. "Basically people trust what I build.

You see, I have the unique opportunity of working one on one with someone so I can answer their special needs." Mclean said he uses only the best imported parts and he builds many of his own special tools. McLean first learned his trade by working in bike shops around Wilmington, where his family lives. A trip overseas in 1972 led to bicycle repair and building for Hasworthy Co. in England. When McLean returned to N.C., he knew he wanted to start his own operation.

It took a couple of years to set up, but since 1973, McLean has been in business with the help of one assistant mechanic and a frame painter. "I like being here in the Piedmont. It's nice and versatile in lots of ways," McLean said. The terrain is especially suited for cycling, McLean said. "That's something I don't get to do enough of.

I'm hoping the tandem will increase my riding now." "I'm not much of a car person," McLean explained. "I like the feeling of being able to hop on the bike and get around if I want to.M This week he'll compromise and pile the shiny new tandem into his beat-up Volvo station wagon and head for the beach, where he will enjoy a seaside test ride. George Baer restoring valuable book one of few left with thft skill McLean Fonvielle's new bike is the Rolls Royce of tandems. "That one's mine and it's not for sale," he said quickly. "If it were, it would cost over two grand The front seat of the hand made bicycle built for two is custom-fit to McLean's long, lanky build, and everything from height and weight, to shoe size, to arm length was considered in the design.

The back seat is for a friend, McLean said with a smile. As owner and operator of the Silk Hope, Ltd. bike building business, McLean builds an average of two bikes a week. He is one of less than 100 custom bike builders in this country. "This is art in a functional form," McLean said.

"The real beauty is in the motion. I sure don't want to see a McLean frame hanging on a wall somewhere." The 10-speed metallic brown tandem glistened in the sunlight. The sleek cycle is a beautiful sight, but, McLean insisted, was "built to be ridden." When asked if he ever gets emotionally attached to his products, McLean said, "That changes all the time, according to what I'm building. This week I guess it would be my tandem. "This one took me nine months to finish because it was for me, and that meant it was low priority." He said most bikes take an average of 16 hours to build, not including packaging and shipping, which McLean also does in his home-office.

McLean's workshop is inside his old frame house off Old Greensboro Road. He works six days a week brazing and soldering frames for his special-order bicyeje business. McLean builds frames for racing, touring and pleasure riding. His tandem is the second two-seater he's attempted, and he plans to build more. "A tandem like that is really exciting," McLean said.

"The slowest you'd go on a tandem is much faster than on a single bike." "This is a serious business for me," McLean said. "Even though it's an out-of-the-house operation, it is my way of working for a living." He said his dedication to the craft usually means he labors longer than an average eight-hour work day, he said. Religion redefined i I Tyson a true believer in activist approach "My A 0 A "I certainly advocate the study of religion from a historical and literary point of view, but I see an increasing importance for the recognition of this sociological and anthropological approach to discover what part religion plays in people's lives and why," Tyson said. Tyson initiated a religion and literature course at UNC that has explored the writings of Walker Percy, George Eliot and Soren Kierkegaard and the question of religious implications. He has taught a seminar on 'i yy death and dying three times and he admits that, "It's impossible to be an expert on such a delicate subject." Although he seems most at home in the classroom, Tyson says his first serious ambition was to become a journalist.

His field work has given him a chance to try out interviewing and documenting skills. He came to UNC in 1 967 from an Episcopal Theological Seminary because he wanted to teach undergraduates. "I love the excitement of people asking questions," he said. "I'd rather hear a student voice a curiosity than my own lecture in the classroom." Tyson relates an old axiom from the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard: "We live our lives forward, but we understand our lives backwards." It is Tyson's mission to aid students in asking the questions that might eventually lead to understanding. "I'm trying to provide people who are willing to experiment with a vocabulary to either rethink or think for the first time about issues that face them day to day.

"It is a process of persuading students to adopt a vocabulary of terms so they can fully appreciate religious meaning with respect to their own experience." Tyson's thoughtful approach and appreciation of students has won him respect in the classroom over the years and the Salgo Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in 1970. 1 His sometimfis disturbing insights are matched by a charming humor and Tyson succeeds in shedding light on those elusive philosophical questions which plague us all. "In my teaching, it's the minor accomplishments that have meant the most to me," Tyson said. "That little thing rather than some breakthrough of understanding about the meaning of it all, which doesn't happen to many of us very often anyway," he added with a smile. This fall semester, Tyson is offering a course in Comparative Religious Ethics.

"We'll tackle the ethics of work and love for a start," Tyson said. nri'M By KIMBERLY McGUIRE For most people, religion means church on Sundays, but, for Ruel Tyson, faith is very much a part of his every-day life. Tyson is chairman of the UNC department of religion and a crusader for what he calls a "double" view of modern religion. "When you say religion to most people," Tyson said, "they think dogma, institutions and traditions. But there's another way of looking at it a philosophical and cultural view of various aspects of our culture which articulate fundamental meanings in human life." This activist approach has most recently led Tyson to study healing rituals in small town churches around North Carolina.

"Through this joint field-work project with (James) "Peacock of Anthropology and (Daniel) Patterson of Folklore, Tyson is exploring what he calls "the culture of ordinary folks who practice religion." "For three summers, we have focused on Pentecostal religion as practiced by a black congregation, a white congregation, and now native Americans," Tyson said. The research project plays a role in Tyson's undergraduate course, Observation and Interpretation of Religious Action. "It's an effort to remind students that the majority of practitioners of religion, while not illiterate, choose to act on their religious beliefs, instead of taking a more passive role," Tyson said. "We want to study these people in context. They supply us with their own interpretations and experiences." As always in the study of classical religion, there is the weight of academic tradition placed on the numerous texts and religious documents.

But Tyson encourages a more extended range of means for appreciating the varieties of religion. Above, the decal that signifies a bicycle has recieved the care and attention of a master frame builder; right, McLean with the tandem he hopes will inspire him to get away from long days in the shop and out onto the road; below, McLean puts the final touches on a front fork in his workshop. 1 t' ''II I 1" I I I I Ml W. t-y tV'i "A 6l 9 3S i I At W. a SNA v.

,5,4 i- v- yJ Well, good afternoon fl 1 Ruel Tyson at home i ft 12A The Summer Tar Heel Thursday, August 2, 1979 Thursday. August 2, 1979 The Summer Tar Heel I3A.