San Francisco Center for the Book

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.

This workshop is ideal for those who are curious about creative ways to make paper with minimal equipment and maximum fun.

Get medieval! Learn the history and fundamentals of Gothic Textura in this introductory calligraphy workshop. Practice using the broad-edged pen and learn to write a basic black-letter alphabet in this workshop designed for novices.

Learn both acrylic and solvent image transfer techniques for a variety of substrates and purposes. Explore transfer options using inexpensive materials and go home with a wealth of knowledge and a packet of samples made in class.

Learn Western calligraphy fundamentals from pen patterns to beginning an alphabet.

In this two day workshop, you will learn the basic letterforms, and the rhythm and spacing that give Italic its distinctive appearance. Acquire the skills to work with a broad-edged pen to provide a firm foundation for learning almost any calligraphic hand. No prior calligraphy experience needed.

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.

When leather bindings break at the joints, the traditional approach is to reback the binding with leather. In this workshop, Dominic will show how to use Japanese tissue as an effective alternative.

The is second of Dominic Riley's new leather classes at SFCB. This style, also known as Ledger Binding, is the quintessential Victorian structure, and about as close to Steampunk as it gets!

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.

Would you like to learn how to make books? Introduction to Bookbinding is the place to start. Learn basic structures and stitches that every book artist should know in this three-hour bookbinding class. One workshop, five books!

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!

Learn to use the Kwikprint gold foil stamping machine, essential for lustrous, professional-quality titling.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Learn screen printing in this intensive, five-day workshop taught at Mission Grafica in the historic Mission District.

Learn the fundamentals of printing on an antique C&P platen press. Increase production and print on oddly shaped and thick papers, such as coaster stock.

Learn to maintain your clamshell press; get tips on troubleshooting and basic repair.

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.

Make letterpress CD sleeves with a vintage flavor, using wood type on the Vandercook cylinder press.

This weeklong letterpress intensive for high schoolers culminates in the creation of a book of students’ original writing.

Design and create a multiblock, three-color linocut print in this daylong class for beginners.

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

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.

Print a variety of notebook covers on the Vandercook using type and collagraphs made from found items, and then bind notebooks as a class.

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.

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

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