London Centre for Book Arts

Teaching at LCBA

If you are interested in being considered for teaching opportunities at the London Centre for Book Arts, please complete our form. Thank you.

The Nautilus Press and Paper Mill

Back in December, we were lucky enough to acquire a large collection of presses and equipment for LCBA from a former private press in west London, the Nautilus Press and Paper Mill. 

Operated by the late Jane Reese, the press was run from Jane’s home, which housed a papermaking studio, bindery and print room, containing equipment including letterpress proofing presses, guillotines, a Ludlow typecaster, bookbinding presses, board cutter, beaters for papermaking - the whole shebang.

These pieces of equipment are rare and highly sought-after, so finding them as a collection was a dream come true, we still can’t believe our luck.

Finding them was just the start – over the course of six months, transport, temporary storage and man-power had to be found to move the super-heavy presses from their home and into temporary storage units.

Finally, last December, the biggest press move day came – with help of some very kind volunteers, we managed to shift a Vandercook SP-15, FAG Swiss Proof 40 and Farley proof presses, and Reina paper beater, into the back of a van and into storage.

Book Arts in the United States

Originally published in The Blue Notebook, Autumn 2011

Like many, I’d always had an American Dream. I’d always wanted to visit. I’d read the books, I’d looked from afar, longing to make the journey. The time had come for me to cross the Atlantic and finally see for myself. I packed my bags and started a three month adventure to understand why the “book arts” culture was thriving in America, that would take me from New York City to Los Angeles, via Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Portland, and San Francisco.

My first stop was the Center for Book Arts in New York City - the oldest open-access book arts centre in the country. It was opened in 1974 by bookbinder Richard Minsky as the first non-for-profit organisation of its type. The Center offers an impressive studio containing letterpress print area, large bindery, public gallery and offices, and regular classes in bookbinding, book arts and letterpress printing.

The Center for Book and Paper Arts in Chicago was the next stop on my list: a book arts centre which is part of a private arts and media college. The Center opened in 1993 with the mission of “advancing research and innovation in the interdisciplinary practices of the artist’s book and hand papermaking, providing support for our graduate programs, and engaging the public through lectures, workshops, exhibitions and events.”

From Chicago, my next stop was Minneapolis, where I would be spending a number of weeks as Visiting Artist at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. MCBA, the largest of the centres, was opened by a group of book artists and enthusiasts in 1985, and steadily grew until 2000 when MCBA relocated to  purpose-built premises at the Open Book building, where it currently stands. The main values that underpin the Center are to “…share a passion for the artist’s book and its power to inform and inspire audiences, past, present and future. [the Center] honours and supports the book artist.”

My travels then took me to Portland, Oregon to visit Em Space Book Arts Center. Em Space was born when a group of Portland artists and printers, led by bookbinder Rory Sparks, decided to pool resources, share their presses and equipment and form a co-operative. Studio costs are covered by membership, classes and the rental of artists’ studios housed in the upper mezzanine level of the space.

The trip inspired me. Why is it that we do not have similar provision on such a scale as that of the Center for Book Arts, New York, MCBA and Em Space in the UK? How can students graduating from arts courses sustain and develop their practice after leaving the fold of the college print room and bindery?

We have printmaking studios that offer workshops and classes in binding and book arts, and there are letterpress printers who offer tuition, but nothing to the same scale. The provision of education and access to facilities needs to be sustainable and encourage development in artists’ practice, not merely a weekend-long course with no room for progression.

I want to change this. It seems so blindingly obvious now, and what I hope to change with the London Centre for Book Arts. A community of artists, craftspeople, writers, designers, all under the same roof. It’s this cross-pollination of ideas, of backgrounds, this melting pot, that makes a robust centre like the ones mentioned really flourish. 

Simon Goode

London Centre for Book Arts

We are the London Centre for Book Arts.

We will soon be opening the first centre dedicated to book arts in the country, offering workshops and open access studio space for papermaking, letterpress and screen printing, bookbinding and book arts.

Check back for updates to see how we are getting on with finding a space, obtaining equipment and presses and generally getting things underway in preparation for the opening of LCBA.

If you’d like to get involved or support the Centre in any way, please get in touch.