This course provides an introduction to the basic hand skills and problems of designing, printing, binding and publishing books & bookish things. The class is structured on a sequence of technical, formal and conceptual units: Letter, Text / Ephemera and Space-Time / Book. On the technical side we will be learning the foundational elements of letterpress printing: typography, hand typesetting, page composition, and how to set up and print on a Vandercook proofing press. We will also learn a variety of bookbinding techniques, ranging from very simple books made by cutting and folding a single sheet of paper, to completely hand sewn and bound hardcover books. You will be learning a great many new techniques and approaches, but you are also encouraged to incorporate any other materials that you have experience with into the work that you do. That’s one of the great things about books—they can contain just about anything. On the conceptual side we will be reading about and discussing the histories of artists’ books and independent publishing, and the particular challenges and opportunities that come with the acts of printing and publishing. How does making artwork in multiple, specifically for some kind of distribution, change our approach? A constant theme in our work and conversations will be the productive tension between the “private” work of the artist in her studio, and the various “public” spaces that printed work can exist in. This is an informal, experienced-based course. How much you get out of it depends on how much you put into it. Ideally the class will function like an “art laboratory” where everyone is working, sharing ideas and learning together. You will learn how to design, print and publish, and to use these skills as active practices to ponder, interpret and intervene in the public space of books and other text / time-based media. This class is about individual and collective agency, critical thinking, empowerment & responsibility.