It may surprise you to learn that not all books are grown in the orchards of the Publishers islands, or farmed in small local coops by teams of biology grad-students.  Nope, instead there are still people out there making books the old fashioned way, with great big clangy printing presses.

I had the opportunity last month to take a class called “The Illustrated Book”.  Over the course of the month we each designed a 2-page illustrated spread around a short bit-o-text about creativity (cue echo).  I learned how to set type, how to set up a printing press, how to carve linoleum blocks, and the fine art of appeasing the ink fairies for a prosperous press run.

Here you can see the cover and my spread.  My text was borrowed from the introduction to John Hodgman’s book The Areas of My Expertise, a favorite of mine.  There are a dozen or so more photographs if you follow the image above.