Our approach
David Wenner’s collections reflect an unusually thoughtful and research-driven approach to documenting the history of science. He has sought to build collections that tell coherent stories: how ideas emerged, how discoveries built on one another, and how scientific fields evolved over time. This goal has shaped not only what he collected, but also how the materials have been preserved, organized, and presented.
A Distinctive Approach to Collecting
Most science collectors purchase, and later sell at auction, collections of loosely related “trophy items.” David’s approach has been different: His goal has been to learn about key topics in the history of science by collecting documents important to the historical scientific development of those fields.
To do this, David has relied on extensive research, including by reading summary articles and books, as well as the use of search tools — including AI — to probe deeply into the steps of historical scientific development. He has purchased documents primarily because of their importance to the development of science: Not only the most famous works, but also the less widely known pieces that help explain how a field took shape. He has also augmented his scientific purchases with documents announcing important discoveries, as well as fictional works that complement the science and show how it shaped the wider culture.
David has used multiple approaches to identify documents to purchase, including daily searches for new listings using Boolean expressions, relationships with many rare book dealers, and regular scanning of ongoing auction offerings. He has also maintained “wish lists” of important documents that have proven difficult to obtain.
For each document he purchased, David has written a brief description of both its content and its relevance. The major exception is the physics collection, which was large enough to have warranted the preparation of an 800-plus-page book specifying the role of each of the approximately 5,000 documents in the collection.
A Long-Term Collaboration with a Talented Bookbinder
David developed a 20-year working relationship with Kevin Oliver, a classically trained bookbinder and the proprietor of Signature Bindery. This collaboration has been central to the care and presentation of the collections.
Kevin has made small repairs to purchased documents and has built and labeled clamshell boxes and pamphlet cases to protect the documents, house closely related items together, and give entire collections a coherent visual presentation, as in the Mars and Computing Collections.
In addition, Kevin has rebound a number of important journals uniformly, in styles appropriate to each journal. He has also bound and labeled “extracts” — at times the only available form of an important issue or article — either individually or as Sammelbände of closely related extracts.
Kevin Oliver and Signature Bindery
Kevin’s path to bookbinding began while he was studying Medieval Literature at the University of Nebraska. While working at a bookstore, he discovered a 300-year-old leather-bound volume. Holding it sparked in him a profound sense of stewardship, and he bought the book on a payment plan. When he later brought it to a local basement workshop for repair, he was captivated by the presses, tools, and leather. In that moment, he realized: “There are bookbinders in the world.”
That realization changed the course of his life. Kevin left university to apprentice under a master binder in Cornwall, England, before returning to Lincoln in 1995 to open Signature Bindery.
Today, Signature Bindery has grown from a single folding table into an internationally respected workshop. Decades later, Kevin is still astonished by the documents that arrive at his door, and he occasionally sees that same look of wonder on the faces of visitors stepping into his shop.