Instructor: Weissman & Prochaska
W 12:30 3:20 PM
In this lively and intimate course, which meets in Langsam Library and enrolls just a dozen students, you will create books while exploring the book in its many incarnations, from clay tablet to scroll to codex to digital reader. Co-taught by a preservation librarian and a professor of literary and cultural studies, Book Arts is an introduction to papermaking, printing, bookbinding, and artists’ books. Our study of preservation practices, bookmaking techniques, and the theory and history of the book will involve weekly hands-on activities, such as papermaking and the creation of one-page wonders, zines, and repurposed books. In addition to discussing the book as object, medium, idea, and interface, each class meeting we will engage in observational analyses, do archival research, and take part in hands-on exercises in the library’s Preservation Lab. Together we will examine examples of archival books, artists’ books, and zines, and use specialized tools and materials to craft our own books.
This course, open to all, fulfills a requirement for the undergraduate Copyediting & Publishing (CEP) certificate.