Half Block at the Library & the Press

One of the courses offered during Half Block was HY200 - The History & Future of the Book co-taught by Jessy Randall, curator of Special Collections, Steve Lawson, librarian, and Aaron Cohick, printer at the Press at Colorado College.

The course is part of the thematic minor in the book and is offered every other year. It examines the development of the written work and includes hands-on work with the Press. The class began the timeline of the book by looking at some of the earliest printed books held at the library's Special Collections, including a leaf of the Gutenberg Bible.

Former class participant Anna, Class of 2019, posted back in 2016:

It turns out that "The History and Future of the Book" is somewhat of a misleading title. Whenever I say it to others after they ask me which class I'm taking, many of them think "the Book" refers to the Bible, when really we're looking at all books, not just the one that's been printed, bought, and sold the most. Thank goodness, because it's quite fascinating to think about where books have their origins, how they function in today's world, and what they might look like in 100 years (Kindles only? Not enough trees to make paper?). Hopefully, the book my classmates and I produce will encourage its readers to think about the same ideas.

Special Collections houses many of the class projects from the Press, visit them to take a look.


Some more interesting follow up:

Jessy Randall's "netcessary" literature page
2018's History and Future of the Book

Digital version of the January 2012 class printing project, a meta/historical book entitled Title Syllabus for Cultures of the Book, 2010
Photographs of books made by CC students, September 2007

Report an issue - Last updated: 02/11/2021