On December 1st, 1999, Marshall Weber and I walked into the Brooklyn County Courthouse and officially registered Booklyn as a company. We'd already been operating as a loose alliance of artist-bookmakers for a couple years, meeting every Tuesday night in Christopher Wilde and Mark Wagner's loft in Brooklyn. It was an exciting time. And while we had big dreams, we were never really sure what was in store for the organization.

Well, ten years later, we've put thousands of books made by hundreds of artists into the permanent collections of the best institutions around the world. We have literally sold millions of dollars worth of books, most of which has gone straight to the artists who made those books. We have curated shows, served on panels, taught classes (from elementary to graduate level), lectured, published books, subsidized studio space for artists, and brought the world of artists books to thousands in the general public. Some of us still meet on Tuesday nights, to make art and talk about the world of book art. We are still engaged, still striving to bring the best art to the public.

If you're reading this email, it's because we see you as an important ally in helping to keep Booklyn alive and well. Fundraising has never been our strongest attribute. But fundraising from individuals is an important part of paying for basic operating expenses in a non-profit organization. The economic downturn has affected Booklyn, and we are looking for ways to move forward into the next decade as a more mature organization.

In the coming years, we hope to institute more education and and publishing programs. So we are currently trying to organize the Booklyn Decade - our archive of invaluable material spanning the last 10 years. It occupies over 35 cubic feet of space (and still growing), and is being organized and databased by a team of librarians/archivists. We plan to sell this archive next year to support the organization's programing. In addition, we have much more in our offices that we want to sell of to you, right now, to help the process along. Using the kickstarter.com website, we set a goal of $10,000, because that's about what it costs to keep the doors open each month. Using this website was a gamble, because we have to raise the entire goal by our deadline to receive even a single penny, so we're counting on our supporters. On Facebook, we have over 700 fans. On our email list, we have over 2000 addresses. So if each one of you can contribute even a few dollars, it would make a HUGE difference. We've already met over 20% of our goal, but we need the next wave of pledges.

While you can pledge without receiving an award, through the kickstarter.com website, you can also request awards for your pledge - items from our inventory. Many of these items can be had right now for less than what we typically sell them for on our retail website.