📍 Midtown · 20 upcoming

Center for Book Arts

A third-floor letterpress and bookbinding centre off Broadway, with working presses, exhibitions and classes from one-day binding to full typesetting courses.

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Coming up at Center for Book Arts

Recurring shows are placed on their next date. Every listing was read off the venue's own page by a person; prices are the printed ones.

SEP 29
The Illegible Book
Tue, Sep 29 · 10:00 AM
Four sessions on books that refuse to be read — mark-making, asemic writing and structures that resist their own content. $190 at the Center for Book Arts.
$190Details →
OCT 1
Letterpress II: Introduction to Typography on Press
Thu, Oct 1 · 6:00 PM
Setting type properly: spacing, leading, and the decisions that separate a printed page from a printed mess. Five evenings, $550, following the Center's Letterpress I.
$550Details →
OCT 1
Fiber Arts as Book Arts: Embroidery
Thu, Oct 1 · 6:30 PM
Stitching into paper and cloth as a way of binding and marking a book. Third in the Center's pay-what-you-can fibre series, $10 to $80.
$10–$80Details →
OCT 3
Slipcases
Sat, Oct 3 · 11:00 AM
Make a slipcase that actually fits the book it is for — measuring, boards, cloth and the tolerances that decide whether it slides. $235 for a Saturday at the Center.
$235Details →
OCT 6
Intro to Pamphlet Stitch
Tue, Oct 6 · 6:00 PM
The three-hole pamphlet stitch is the first binding anyone learns and the one you will keep using; this evening teaches it properly, with grain direction and awl work. $130 at the Center for Book Arts — the cheapest of its one-night bindings alongside Intro to Long Stitch and Intro to Stab-Binding.
$130Details →
OCT 7
Bookbinding II: Introduction to Hardcover Binding
Wed, Oct 7 · 6:00 PM
Boards, cloth, cases and the geometry of a hardcover book, over five evenings for $550. The sequel to the Center's softcover course, and the prerequisite for its editioning class in November.
$550Details →
OCT 8
Fiber Arts as Book Arts: Fiber Book Forms
Thu, Oct 8 · 6:30 PM
The series closes with the books themselves: soft structures, woven and sewn, where the fibre is the binding. Pay-what-you-can, $10 to $80, at 28 West 27th Street.
$10–$80Details →
OCT 10
Cyanotype to Concertina: Building a Folded Sequence
Sat, Oct 10 · 11:00 AM
Expose cyanotypes in the morning, fold them into a concertina book by the afternoon — camera-less photography that ends as an object. $255 for a Saturday at the Center.
$255Details →
OCT 13
Intro to Long Stitch
Tue, Oct 13 · 6:00 PM
Long stitch leaves the sewing visible along the spine, which is the point. One evening, $130, on the third floor at 28 West 27th Street. One of three intro bindings the Center runs this autumn.
$130Details →
OCT 17
Marbling with Acrylic Paint
Sat, Oct 17 · 11:00 AM
Float acrylic on a size bath, comb it, and lift the pattern onto paper — the endpapers of every old book you have admired. $260 for a Saturday. The Center runs a suminagashi class in November if you want the quieter Japanese version.
$260Details →
OCT 19
Riso I: Foundations of Risograph Printing
Mon, Oct 19 · 6:00 PM
Four evenings on the Center's Risograph — separations, registration, and the particular fluorescent wrongness that makes riso worth using. $445. Runs in September and again in October.
$445Details →
OCT 20
Intro to Stab-Binding
Tue, Oct 20 · 6:00 PM
Japanese stab binding — four holes, one thread, no adhesive — taught in a single evening for $130. The third of the Center's introductory bindings this season, after pamphlet stitch and long stitch.
$130Details →
OCT 24
Introduction to Hot Stamping
Sat, Oct 24 · 11:00 AM
Foil, heat and type: hot stamping is how the gold got onto the spine of every old book. $240 for a Saturday at the Center for Book Arts.
$240Details →
OCT 26
Dark Matter: Iron Gall Ink from Waste
Mon, Oct 26 · 6:00 PM
Make iron gall ink — the ink of medieval manuscripts — out of rusted metal and plant waste, then write with it. $135 for an evening, and the strangest chemistry on our calendar.
$135Details →
OCT 27
Pocket Pop-Up Cryptids
Tue, Oct 27 · 6:00 PM
Two evenings of paper engineering aimed at Mothman and friends: pop-up mechanics small enough to fit in a pocket. $110 at the Center for Book Arts, and the most fun you can have with a scoring bone folder.
$110Details →
NOV 3
Suminagashi Marbling
Tue, Nov 3 · 6:00 PM
Suminagashi is marbling at its most restrained: concentric rings of ink floated on still water and lifted in one breath. Pay-what-you-can from $10 to $80, which makes it the most accessible class the Center runs.
$10–$80Details →
NOV 6
Painted and Sewn Non-Adhesive Journal
Fri, Nov 6 · 11:00 AM
A journal held together entirely by sewing — no glue anywhere — with painted covers made in the same session. $215 on a Friday at the Center.
$215Details →
NOV 7
Paper Case Binding
Sat, Nov 7 · 11:00 AM
A full paper case binding in a day: sewn text block, cased in, no cloth. $235 at the Center for Book Arts, and a sensible step up from its $130 intro bindings.
$235Details →
NOV 23
Relief Printing Anywhere
Mon, Nov 23 · 6:00 PM
Relief printing without a press, over two online evenings — carving, inking and burnishing by hand. Sliding scale $20 to $160 from the Center for Book Arts.
$20–$160Details →
DEC 7
Zines, Zines, Zines!
Mon, Dec 7 · 6:00 PM
A zine evening in a building full of letterpress equipment, priced pay-what-you-can from $10. One of four sliding-scale sessions the Center runs this season, and the one to bring a friend to.
Pay What You CanDetails →

Recently at Center for Book Arts

The last 10 of 10 past events we listed here — useful for a sense of what this venue actually programmes.

Sep 26, 2026Gel Plate PrintingWorkshops & Classes
Sep 24, 2026Fiber Arts as Book Arts: Kitchen PrintingWorkshops & Classes
Sep 19, 2026Poetry and the Page: Visualizing the WordWorkshops & Classes
Sep 17, 2026Fiber Arts as Book Arts: Natural DyeingWorkshops & Classes
Sep 14, 2026Long Stitch Binding at HomeWorkshops & Classes
Sep 14, 2026Bookbinding I: Introduction to Softcover BindingWorkshops & Classes
Sep 13, 2026Classic Parchment Limp-Vellum BindingWorkshops & Classes
Sep 12, 2026Hands-On Introduction to LetterpressWorkshops & Classes
Sep 8, 2026Miniature Pop-Up Wildflowers with Longstitch BindingWorkshops & Classes
Sep 2, 2026Letterpress I: Basic Press Operation and MaintenanceWorkshops & Classes

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