San Francisco Center for the Book

Strong, elegant, and pleasing to use, this was the “daybook” of choice for the great Romantic English poets and artists.

This ingeniously designed album is a new offering from Michael Burke this year, and is the perfect accompaniment to the Ideal Sketchbook. This structure is an extremely elegant one suitable for presenting suites of prints, drawings or photographs

This style of binding immerged in the English tradition in the 1830s. It was immensely popular for both ‘ordinary’ work (that is, inexpensive bindings which were simply decorated) and ‘extra work’ (fancier bindings with more gold tooling). It remains today the method for making fine leather bindings.

In this class, Master Bookbinder, Dominic Riley demonstrates all aspects of the restoration of cloth bindings. The workshop will begin by pulling the signatures of the book, cleaning the dirty pages and performing simple tear repairs.

Explore this fascinating style of limp binding, which offers many creative possibilities to today's book artist as well as presenting an interesting overview of historical sewing structures, both practical and decorative.

The traditional method of binding books in Ethiopia survived relatively unchanged for over a thousand years. This workshop will yield a flexible non-adhesive book that opens fully.

Alter an existing book with an array of art and writing techniques to create a stunning and inspired artist's journal.

Take the plunge into calligraphy with this one-day survey for beginners. Focusing on the italics, this course delves into calligraphy terminology, tools, techniques, and forms.

A blank book is a wonderful place to gather one’s thoughts, ideas, and impressions, and pair them with images, found material, and more. In this two-day evening workshop, students will learn how to integrate the visual and linguistic maps of their experiences in the book form.

Using the work of Joseph Cornell as inspiration, create a little personal world inside a shadow box.

In this one-day workshop learn to construct a protective box with a lift-off top for collections of prints or books.

Create a little watercolor paper sketchbook with an exposed-sewn binding and a magnetic flap used to close the book on the open end. Learn design and watercolor techniques for decorating the book.

Protect books in elegant full cloth-covered slipcases for books. Learn the tricks of constructing durable and attractive book slipcases working from a template provided by the instructor.

Learn how to construct four hardcover, hand-bound, multisection books over the course of this bookbinding workshop series. Each binding in the series will add to the skills previously learned and integrate new techniques. Become familiar with bookbinding's basic vocabulary, its fundamental tools and their uses, as well as the materials (paper, cloth, board, and adhesives) and techniques (folding, sewing, and gluing) of the craft.

Upcycling is the method of using waste materials to create useful products, like the journals that will be made in this workshop. Disassemble an old hardcover book, leaving its signatures mostly intact, and interleave the signatures with blank journal paper.

Learn basic bookbinding structures and stitches that every book artist should know in this three-hour workshop. If you’ve ever been curious about how to make a book, Introduction to Bookbinding is the place to start. One workshop, five books!

This series of workshops covers typesetting and printing on a Vandercook cylinder press with metal type, wood type, and photopolymer plates. Students will have the opportunity to work on independent and collaborative projects.

Create a luscious, layered image with a combination of pressure printing, relief printing, and printing with polymer plates.

Learn to print on a press small enough to fit into almost any studio! This workshop is ideal for beginners, especially those interested in printing cards and invitations.

Become acquainted with the world of letterpress by pulling prints off both a Vandercook cylinder press and a tabletop platen press.

A refresher for those who’ve taken a few printing classes, this lively daylong workshop will help hesitant letterpress students renew their confidence and get to printing.

Learn how to make detailed, high-quality photopolymer plates from digital files and film for letterpress printing.

This series of workshops covers typesetting and printing on a Vandercook cylinder press with metal type, wood type, and photopolymer plates. Students will have the opportunity to work on independent and collaborative projects.

Gain exposure to letterpress and typesetting while making personalized note-card stationery.

Discover how to dampen paper, use bearers, and finesse rubber- and oil-based inks on Vandercook and platen presses for better ink coverage and control.

This weeklong workshop covers typesetting and printing on a Vandercook cylinder press with metal type, wood type, and photopolymer plates. Learn from Master Printer Mary Laird adn work on independent and collaborative projects.

Learn to print on a press small enough to fit into almost any studio! This workshop is ideal for beginners, especially those interested in printing cards and invitations.

Imagine networking with handmade letterpress business cards! Take this beginning-level class and walk away with letterpress skills and a handful of attractive business cards.

Make a limited-edition chapbook with master printer Mary Risala Laird in this beginning-level letterpress workshop that has been a staple of the SFCB curriculum for fifteen years.

Gain the tools to screen print textiles at a semiprofessional level in this five-day intensive at Mission Grafica.

After taking Letterpress Printing on a Vandercook Cylinder Press and the Photopolymer Plate Making Lab, take Advanced Letterpress Production Printing to learn the essential skills for creating professional-quality editions on both the platen press and the Vandercook cylinder press.

Become acquainted with the world of letterpress by pulling prints off both a Vandercook cylinder press and a tabletop platen press.

Open Studio is a great way to print or bind your own projects. A trained and qualified volunteer is always on hand to answer questions.

Open Studio is a great way to print or bind your own projects. A trained and qualified volunteer is always on hand to answer questions.

Open Studio is a great way to print or bind your own projects. A trained and qualified volunteer is always on hand to answer questions.

Open Studio is a great way to print or bind your own projects. A trained and qualified volunteer is always on hand to answer questions.

Open Studio is a great way to print or bind your own projects. A trained and qualified volunteer is always on hand to answer questions.

In this workshop students will delve into the expanding and contracting world of the book, learning four different ways to make an accordion binding.

Whether hand drawn or type set, initial capitals adorned with textures, patterns, and colors are certain to draw attention to any text.

Become acquainted with the world of letterpress by pulling prints off both a Vandercook cylinder press and a tabletop platen press.

One workshop, five books! Ever been curious about how to make a book? Introduction to Bookbinding is the place to start. In this three-hour workshop, learn basic bookbinding structures and stitches that every book artist should know.

In the Japanese Stab Binding workshop participants will build a hinged hardcover Japanese-bound book and then build an enclosure to house it.

Hand lettering for all, even those with the shakiest of handwriting! Ease into the art of calligraphy with this beginning class in penmanship, letter formation, layout techniques, and calligraphic processes and materials.

Learn how to construct four hardcover, hand-bound, multisection books over the course of this bookbinding workshop series. Each binding in the series will add to the skills previously learned and integrate new techniques. Become familiar with bookbinding's basic vocabulary, its fundamental tools and their uses, as well as the materials (paper, cloth, board, and adhesives) and techniques (folding, sewing, and gluing) of the craft.