Bookmaking

How it all started…  Written works in the ancient world began with the clay tablets and stone inscriptions of Sumeria.  The Egyptians, with a new material for writing made from reeds called papyrus, created a new format, the scroll, over 3000 years ago.  The codex is the form of the book, as we now know it with boards over sequential paper pages bound together.  For religious texts or more important works, an expensive illustration, called illumination, was used.

 Johannes Gutenberg, approximately 1452, was the first to use movable type - letters cast individually from metal - enabling the rapid printing of both multiple copies and multiple titles of books.  Lithography and offset printing replaced cast type and soon books, newspapers, broadsides, handbills, posters, and more were coming off the presses in larger and larger numbers.

 Early computers enabled the use of photocomposition, or the photographing of digital text and images created on the computer onto film or paper for printing.  Current computers and personal computing devices have enabled the invention of electronic books - books with no physical component at all.

Here is an example of student work.   strong craftsmanship   a great design and layout   an innovative way of incorporating her lettering into the story   a good use of the back and front on each page of her book

Requirements for your book:  At least 4 drawing media  At least 1 non-traditional media  At least 2 painting media (watercolor and tempera)  At least 3 media on each page  Must have a title  Must have front and back of pages completed  Must have at least 6 pages