Stop by and print a letterpress Christmas or generic Seasonal Holiday card for Free. (Additional cards can be printed for only $1 a pop!) and/or shop at our pop-up shop for books, cards, posters, broadsides, and even the new Wells Book Arts Baseball Caps!
When: Friday, December 4th from 1pm-5pm
Where: Wells Book Arts Center in Morgan Hall
Wells College Press and Starshaped Press are co-publishing a limited edition alphabet book. Each letter is made up of printers’ ornaments composed by hand and letterpress printed from metal at Starshaped Press in Chicago. Wells College Press will be doing all of the binding. The design and lock up of tiny ornaments for every letter in the alphabet is unimaginable but Starshaped Press has made it happen. The results are absolutely beautiful. This is a book that everyone will appreciate. Expect to receive your copy around Spring 2015. To pre-order now click here. The images below will help you understand the work that has gone into this project. To the left is a print of the prospectus and to the right is the metal type lock up used to print the prospectus. (A human did all of this with their two hands) A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Reserve a copy today before they sell out!
Nicolas Barker visited Wells College last Thursday where he visited the Book Arts Center and gave a brilliant talk to the community. The lecture was attended by book arts board members, faculty, students, and friends. Barker discussed his connection to Printing and the Mind of Man, a book that was published in 1967 and based on an exhibition of books at the British Museum. The books chosen were based on an intellectual contribution through fine printing. Stanley Morison, John Carter, and Percy H. Muir were three very important figures in curating the exhibition and producing the catalogue. We walked away with a deeper understanding of curatorial work and collaboration in relation to the production of fine press books.
Nicolas Barker at the Bixler Press & Letterfoundry; photo taken by Winnie Bixler
The following day, Barker made a trip to Skaneateles to visit Michael and Winnie Bixler at their letterfoundry. Michael and Winnie showed Barker their collection of beautiful molds for casting metal type as well as their current book projects. All of the Bixlers’ type specimens of type can be viewed here at the their website.
We thank Nicolas Barker for making his journey to Wells, and all those who made the event possible. We will be sharing a video of his talk soon if you missed it!
Last Saturday we opened up Morgan Hall for the Wells community to print greeting cards on our presses. Music filled the air, as did the scent of apples and cinnamon. It was the most wonderful day in the print shop!
I miss your face with fun wood type
Here are some of the cards and matrices that we printed from.
Since Odd/Even Season was approaching, we set up some spirited cards as well! These cards are lyrics sung by odds and evens during the sing off and basketball game at Wells. The odd team even put on a special performance in the type shop! You ladies rock! Here is some more information about odd/even and other Wells traditions on the Wells website.
We will be hosting more printing and book arts events later on in the semester, so if you missed this one, do not worry!
Wells Book Arts Center 