Texas A&M Book History Workshop (4-9 June 2023)

This five-day workshop, limited to 20 students, provides an intensive, hands-on introduction to the history of books and printing. The workshop is intended for librarians, archivists, students, teachers, collectors, and private individuals who have an interest in the first three and a half centuries of the printed book.

Daily lab sessions concentrate on printing in the hand press era and its allied technologies, including typecasting, papermaking, bookbinding, illustration, and ink-making. Among the activities included in these sessions are casting type in a hand mould, setting type and preparing it for the press, printing on a period-accurate common press, papermaking, creating marbled and paste papers, and experimenting with a number of book illustration techniques.

Throughout the week, seminar sessions provide a thematic survey of book and printing history, with the collections of Cushing Memorial Library providing examples of some of the most significant artifacts and books in the history of recorded culture. These objects include Mesopotamian clay tablets and medieval manuscripts before focusing on developments in the hand press era.

The workshop concludes with a celebratory wayzgoose, a reenactment of the annual party traditionally thrown by the master printer for his journeymen and apprentices.

The workshop is limited to 20 students. Admissions will be made on a rolling basis, and will be made in light of each applicant’s needs in relation to the course content, the strength of the student's statement and background, and the potential use of the book history knowledge gained in the course. On the application form, prospective students should clearly identify the links between the subject matter of the workshop and their professional, academic, vocational, or avocational interests.

The registration fee for the Workshop is $1100, of which a $100 deposit is due at the time of admittance. Failure to remit this deposit within one week of acceptance will result in the forfeiture of an applicant’s seat. The full payment is due six weeks prior to the Workshop.

Registration is now open.

Applications received before 24 February 2023 will receive first consideration, after which admissions will continue on a rolling basis.