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349

Tools and Technology for Teaching 
the History of the Book at a 
Theological Library
Brandon Wason, Head of Special Collections, Pitts Theology Library

ABSTR AC T: This presentation explores methods for teaching the 
history of the book within a theological library context. The first part 
highlights the significance of teaching this subject in theological or 
religious education settings. The second section delves into letterpress 
printing, offering various approaches to demonstrate its use from 
traditional metal type to modern technologies such as 3D printing and 
CNC machines. The third section focuses on instructional strategies 
for teaching the history of the book in the library. The final section 
examines how to effectively showcase aspects of book history through 
exhibitions. The presentation bridges the traditional world of books 
with the modern trend of libraries as centers for creative thinking 
and innovation. 

In June 2021, Pitts Theology Library received a donation of an antique 
iron hand press, which presented us with a choice either to simply 
display it as a large museum piece or put it to use as a functioning 
instructional tool. We chose the latter. This presentation covers our 
experiences using the printing press and other tools for teaching 
the history of the book, and it further reflects on the way that these 
tools impact our work as librarians.

THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK AND THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

The invention of the printing press and the introduction of printing 
to Europe had wide-ranging effects on Western culture by increasing 
the speed of producing books, lowering costs of bookmaking, and, 
therefore, making books more accessible. Francis Bacon famously 
stated that printing, along with gunpowder and the compass, was 
an invention that “altered the state of the world” (Bacon 1813, 55). 



350    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

Some modern bibliographers and historians, notably Elizabeth 
Eisenstein, have referred to the advent of printing as revolutionary 
(Eisenstein 1979, 3–42). In the fifteenth century, it was thought of as 
a divine gift. For instance, Giovanni Andrea Bussi called it a “sacred 
art” which had been “brought down from heaven by the Divine 
Shepherd” (Needham 1990, 108–109). Johannes Gutenberg himself, 
in the colophon of the 1460 Catholicon, acknowledges the aid of the 
Omnipotent God who helped bring about the printing of this book 
“not by means of reed, stylus, or quill, but with the miraculous and 
harmonious concurrence of punches and types cast in moulds” 
(Marston 1956, 89). Even in the late nineteenth century, we can find 
this sentiment depicted in various illustrations of William Blades’s 
The Pentateuch of Printing (Blades 1891, 1, 43, and 83). Issues of 
divine providence aside, teaching the history of the book within 
the context of a theological library is beneficial for several reasons: 
(1) books and many religious traditions are inextricably linked, (2) 
books provide a window into the world in which they were created, 
(3) books provide us with insight about the reading practices and 
interpretations of their readers, and (4) books are deeply connected 
to our profession as librarians.

First, books and many religious traditions are inextricably linked. 
Thus, understanding the history of the book provides both context 
and appreciation for these religious traditions. We think of Judaism, 
Christianity, and Islam as religions of the book, but writing in vari-
ous forms plays an indispensable role in many religious traditions. 
Religion and the media that record it often have a dynamic inter-
relationship. For instance, Christians were early adopters of the 
nascent codex format and even played a role in its popularity as a 
medium (Gamble 1995, 49–66). When printing arrived on the scene 
in Germany, the first major book printed was a Latin Bible, but other 
smaller writings, mostly religious in nature were printed even ear-
lier by Gutenberg. Martin Luther, making use of the newly-invented 
printing press, prolifically produced Flugschriften (or “flying texts”), 
which had a lasting influence on the European landscape of the 
sixteenth century. These are just a few examples of how the history 
of the book and religion are intricately connected.

Second, it is beneficial to teach this subject because books provide 
a window into the world in which they were created. Excluding for 
the moment matters of textual content, books are cultural artifacts 



Listen and Learn Sessions    351

and the products of the resources, technology, and craftsmanship of 
their time. This is most clearly evident in the way that the medium 
containing the written word changes depending upon regions and 
time periods (e.g., think of a Sumerian cuneiform tablet versus an 
Egyptian papyrus roll versus a medieval parchment codex, etc.). 
Understanding of the materiality of books, therefore, provides a 
better understanding of the culture behind the writings we are 
interested in preserving. 

Third, books shed light on the reading practices and interpretations 
of their readers. Here I refer to the ways that the different formats 
in which books have been produced affect their use. A scroll is read 
differently than a codex. Additional color or decoration might guide 
the reader or exist for the reader’s enjoyment. Font size and typeface 
may convey what is most important on a page. The arrangement of 
the text may dictate what is Scripture versus what is commentary. 
An encyclopedic work might be better suited for a large folio while 
a private devotional work might be better suited for a small octavo 
book. Moving parts might be used to demonstrate astronomical or 
anatomical principles. How the content is presented affects the way 
that that content is consumed.

Finally, books are intricately linked to our profession. As librar-
ians it is in our best interest to know about our collections and the 
historical contexts in which our profession developed. Knowing 
about the books in our collections makes us better stewards of those 
materials—how to handle them, preserve them, promote their use, 
and make them accessible to researchers. 

LETTERPRESS PRINTING

Back in June of 2021, when we received that donation of an iron 
hand press, I had very little hands-on experience with letterpress 
printing. In high school I took graphic arts classes and even printed 
on an offset printing press, so I was not starting from square one.  
Nevertheless, operating a hand press was quite a different task. The 
press we received was a Washington-style printing press dating 
from the 1880s. Washington presses were popular printing presses 
in the nineteenth century. In their general form and function, these 
presses resemble the larger wooden printing presses that people 



352    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

often think of when they think of a printing press. The distinguish-
ing feature of a Washington press is the use of a toggle mechanism 
to lower the platen rather than a screw. Our press, produced by the 
Wesel Manufacturing Company in New York had been purchased 
by the Western Book Concern of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The press was likely used as a proof press 
since it is relatively small for its style. At some point it was moved to 
the United Methodist Publishing House headquarters in Nashville, 
Tennessee, where it was put on display with other antique printing 
presses from the organization’s history.

Image 1: Washington style printing press 

When the press arrived at our library, it was inoperable. It was 
basically a giant 500-pound paper weight. Being somewhat mechani-
cally minded and knowing my way around a woodshop, I took on 
the responsibility of bringing the press into working order. The first 



Listen and Learn Sessions    353

thing I replaced were the girts, or leather straps, used to move the 
carriage in or out. The original girts were dried, cracked and bro-
ken. Traditionally girts were made from the back of a horse hide or 
bull hide (Moxon 1683, 72), but I purchased some vegetable-tanned 
leather straps which worked well for this purpose. Once the girts were 
replaced, the carriage moved in and out under the platen. Second, I 
created a new tympan, which is a wooden and metal frame wrapped 
with material designed to hold the paper and to soften or equalize 
the pressure supplied by the platen. I also created a forestay to sup-
port the heavy cast-iron carriage when it was in the outer position.

At this point, I had been in contact with the leading expert on 
iron hand presses, Robert Oldham (Oldham 2006). He was passion-
ate about seeing our antique press being used again and offered to 
travel to Atlanta to help us get the press up and running. In August of 
2021, Oldham shared his wisdom, and the two of us finished setting 
up the press, which involved creating a new frisket that we welded 
together at my shop. I mention the help of Oldham since it is often 
beneficial not only to rely on the expertise of others, but also their 
connections. Oldham secured for us various tools and equipment 
necessary for running a letterpress (things such as reglets and fur-
niture, leading and spacing, quoins, a pica pole and a composing 
stick). He also put us in touch with a local printer who gave us a 
large chase. The library purchased its own metal type from Skyline 
Type Foundry in Prescott, Arizona. Oldham also taught me that it is 
important not to become overly preoccupied with historical accuracy. 
For instance, we used elastic bands instead of paper in the frisket 
and rare earth magnets instead of quoins to secure the printing 
block. Demonstrating the principles of printing is more important 
than historical accuracy in every detail.

A different possible title for this presentation is, “How learning 
about letterpress printing has made me a better librarian.” I had 
tried to learn as much about letterpress printing as I could. This 
included reading books, browsing websites, and taking classes 
related to early printing. I printed at a local letterpress shop and 
purchased a couple of smaller presses for myself. As a student of 
early printed books, this dive into the world of letterpress printing 
helped me better understand how printed books were created and 
I began to look at early printed books with new eyes.



354    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

Letterpress printing has the connotation of printing with move-
able, metal type, but there are traditional approaches used in let-
terpress printing that either supplement or replace the use of metal 
type altogether. These include wood type, printing plates, such as 
stereotypes or copper plates, and printing blocks or cuts. All of these 
are materials that people can still acquire today at antique stores, 
auction sites, or from people in the letterpress trade. 

One can easily find used metal type at online auction sites and 
there are still a couple of foundries in North America making type. 
The advantage of using metal type is that the chemical composition 
and general features of type today have not changed much since 
Gutenberg in the middle of the fifteenth century. For that reason, 
demonstrating printing using metal type is perhaps the most authen-
tic way to show the invention of printing. Yet this form of printing 
is extraordinarily time consuming. For unskilled individuals (like 
myself) it takes hours to compose a single page of dense type. This 
is a skill that only becomes efficient after doing it for a while. It also 
requires having a lot of type on hand and a way to store and organize 
that type when it is not in use. For that reason, I like to keep type 
around to show what it entails to compose with metal type, but I 
generally do not print with metal type for classes or other visiting 
groups. This led me to explore alternative technologies to use with 
the printing press.

The sibling of metal type is wood type, which was popularized in 
the nineteenth century. Wood type is typically made from a hard-
wood such as beech or maple and is useful for printing large letters 
whereas metal type is suited for smaller letters and finer details. 
Wood type is often associated with posters and metal type with 
books. Wood type as artifacts are popular antiques and purchasing 
a full set of wood type for printing starts out at several hundred 
dollars. Printing with wood type is a great way to get people into 
the practice of using moveable type, which has similar organization 
and storage requirements to metal type.



Listen and Learn Sessions    355

Image 2: Metal type in a printing forme

Image 3: Wood type being sold at an antique store



356    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

One low-hanging fruit is acquiring pre-made printing plates and 
cuts. Through eBay, we purchased a printing plate for The Hymn 
and Tune Book for Use in Old School or Primitive Baptist Churches 
(1886). Having this plate is a convenient way to discuss printing 
because we can put the printed book on display open to the page of 
the printing plate to show students how the two are related. Photo-
etched zinc printing blocks, or “cuts” as they are often called, are 
also a great option to present a design, illustration, decoration, or 
advertisement that is ready to be printed. Ebay is chock-full of print-
ing cuts and they are relatively inexpensive. The main drawback 
with printing cuts is that finding one that is useful for a particular 
purpose is a challenge because what one can find online is usually 
a bit random. Still, people find the experience of printing from cuts 
quite entertaining.

Image 4: Photopolymer plates 

Advances in technology allow us to develop new types of raised 
surfaces that can replicate the process of traditional printing with type 
and blocks. One of the attractive features of these newer approaches 
is the ability to begin the design work using image editing tools or 
3D modeling software. The idea is that we can create something 
using modern skillsets which compensate for our lack of traditional 



Listen and Learn Sessions    357

skillsets such as cutting a woodcut. There are three technologies that 
I will address for helping to demonstrate printing: photopolymer 
plates, 3D printing, and CNC machining. 

Today, many letterpress printers use photopolymer plates for 
printing, instead of (or to supplement) printing with metal type. 
These are light-activated resin plates that can be adhered to a thicker 
base. Companies like Boxcar Press in New York can create these 
plates from digital files. They also print very well. We had a couple 
of plates made for us at the library. The first was a reproduction of 
the first page of Nicolaus Jenson’s edition of Eusebius’s De evangelica 
praeparatione (On the Preparation of the Gospel). This is not only 
Jenson’s first printed book, but also the first book that employed 
Jenson’s celebrated Roman type. I chose this for the print not only 
because of Jenson’s typography, but because this allowed us to draw 
attention to an interesting feature of book decoration. Many fifteenth 
century books have decorated initial letters, which come out of the 
manuscript tradition. Our copy of De evangelica praeparatione was 
professionally illuminated, but the crafts person responsible for 
supplying the initial letter used a P instead of an E. This raises ques-
tions about the process of illumination—unlike some other early 
printed books, Jenson did not use guide letters and it is possible that 
our illuminator was not literate or was absent-minded when they 
supplied the wrong initial. This unusual mistake provides us with 
the opportunity not only to highlight the mistake, but to correct it 
using printing sheets that we printed on our press. By printing the 
page without the initial letter, students or visitors could add their 
own decorated initial in their own style. The second photopoly-
mer plate we had made was that of the woodcut title page of the 
September Testament, the first printing of Martin Luther’s German 
New Testament. At an event commemorating the five-hundredth 
anniversary of the September Testament, we set up a proof press 
so people could create their own printing of this historic title page. 

We wanted to implement the use of emerging technologies that 
were not often associated with letterpress printing and so we first 
worked with the makerspace on campus to recreate a woodcut 
from our collection using a 3D printer. This was not our library’s 
first foray into 3D printing. In 2017, we 3D printed a model of 
an indulgence chest for use in an exhibition, which gave us opti-
mism about this new use of 3D printing. However, the result of our 



358    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

initial test was less than sophisticated. Our 3D printed woodcut 
was not perfectly flat and because of the way that the 3D model 
was designed, many of the finer sections were not properly sup-
ported and broke off. Our model could have been constructed dif-
ferently or scaled larger to bring out better detail and so we plan 
to revisit this, possibly with a resin printer. Others have used 3D 
printing in place of wood type and the examples I have seen seem 
to be very promising (for example: https://www.printmypart.co.uk/
single-post/2017/11/16/3d-printing-letterpress-printing-blocks)

We have experienced more success with another technology for 
creating woodcuts: a computer numerical control (CNC) machine. 
Though there are similarities between the two technologies, 3D 
printers and CNC machines, there is a fundamental distinction. 3D 
printers (filament and resin printers) work by building up objects 
layer by layer. It starts with nothing, and by the end of the print job 
there is a 3-dimensional object. CNC machines, or more specifically 
CNC router machines, work by removing material. A CNC machine 
starts with blank material, usually a piece of wood, a sheet of ply-
wood, or plastic, and carves into that material. Both technologies 
are computer operated and run on particular types of code.

To make a woodcut, I started with a relatively simple image. 
Despite using modern technology, I knew I was not going to be able 
to reproduce the fine detail of an Albrecht Dürer woodcut. The 
first image I created was a printer’s mark for Andreas Torresanus, 
a fifteenth-century printer from Venice. To produce this woodcut, I 
scanned the original image from the printed book, cleaned up the 
image in Adobe Illustrator, and prepared the file in a program called 
Carveco Maker. In this program one can designate what type of cuts 
to make, what endmills to use, and how deep those cuts should be. 
Carveco Maker generates the G-code, which governs the speed and 
paths of the router along X, Y, and Z axes. The image of the printer’s 
mark was carved on to a piece of cherry wood and when printed with 
red ink made a fairly accurate representation of the original mark.

https://www.printmypart.co.uk/single-post/2017/11/16/3d-printing-letterpress-printing-blocks
https://www.printmypart.co.uk/single-post/2017/11/16/3d-printing-letterpress-printing-blocks


Listen and Learn Sessions    359

Image 5: The process of making and printing a CNC woodcut

The second woodcut I created was from the 1477 German Bible 
printed by Anton Sorg. The woodcut is a relatively simple depiction 
of St. Paul sitting with a codex and holding a sword. Given the level 
of detail that I could easily attain using the CNC machine, I decided to 
enlarge the original by about 300 percent. The woodcut was carved 
into MDF (medium density fiberboard), rather than a hardwood, 
mainly because MDF stays flat, and I had good experiences carving 
into MDF with minimal tear-out. Though MDF absorbs ink more 
than hardwoods, it did make for a great printing medium. We have 
used this same wood block to print a few hundred woodcuts. And 
while the CNC is a remarkable tool that can (mostly) replicate the 
traditional woodcut, it does lack a little bit of soul. But it makes up 
for it with dust and noise.

I continued to play around with the CNC machine and produced 
other forms of artwork. I first experimented with making wood-type 
posters, but progressed to images, such as one of Martin Luther or a 
multi-colored woodblock adaptation of Vincent van Gogh’s “Skull of 
a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette.” Thus, one can take the medium 
of printing with CNC woodblocks much further than trying to rep-
licate historical printed images.

Part of the problem using tools like 3D printing, resin printing, 
or CNC machines, is the learning curve with respect to the special-
ized software and the idiosyncrasies of the machines themselves. Of 
course, there are often online communities that are good sources of 
information and help for these technologies, but, in general, model-
ing prints and designing CNC woodcuts requires a lot of time. The 
payoff is the ability to create something that is unique and can have 
direct relevance to your library’s collections. Another consideration 
is cost, not only for the printers or machines and the consumables, 
but also potential software subscriptions that may add up. 



360    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

Image 6: CNC Woodcut posters

I have simply offered a few ideas of how modern technology can 
help aid in demonstrating the printing process, although there are 
simple and inexpensive approaches to printing for people who do 
not want to invest in one of the aforementioned technologies. For 
instance, a few years back my kids and I used Lego bricks to print 
Valentine’s Day cards. Anything with a raised surface can be used to 
print, so the hurdles of technology or costs should not be prohibitive. 

LIBRARY INSTRUCTION AND THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK

The various media we have used to demonstrate printing has been 
incorporated into our library’s instruction to classes and visiting 
groups. Being part of a university, we have both undergraduate and 
graduate students visit the library, and we work with K–12 students 
through our Hands on History program. So when we approach the 
topic of book history, we try to tailor our approach to the audience, 
but the essence of the content and the materials used are generally 
unchanged.

While it is important to point out that the advent of printing in 
Europe is certainly not the beginning point of book history (nor even 
of printing, which developed earlier in East Asia), this does seem to 
be a useful starting point since this is the period in Europe’s history 
that underwent the largest changes both in terms of bookmaking 



Listen and Learn Sessions    361

but also culturally with respect to the Renaissance. By focusing on 
the fifteenth century, one can contrast the two contemporary modes 
of book production: manuscripts and printed books. It is helpful to 
ask questions such as: What would be involved in manuscript work 
versus what was needed to print a book?  How long would it take to 
copy a book, such as the Bible, by hand? How long would it take to 
print the same book with type? When might one method be more 
advantageous over the other? Physical objects such as manuscripts, 
printed books, metal type, and composing sticks help complicate the 
situation since there is much more work involved in printing than 
pressing a button. 

After talking about printing comes the fun part of using the print-
ing press to pull prints. The process includes loading paper in the 
tympan, inking the printing forme using a brayer, positioning the 
bed under the platen, and of course pulling the handle to lower the 
platen and make the print. We demonstrate how the work is done, 
but let students do the work themselves. Sometimes inconsisten-
cies in the print, due to inking or uneven pressure, show how the 
variables affect the outcome. We have printed a few different media 
on the press, but people seem to enjoy printing the woodcut of St. 
Paul the most. 

This presentation has put a lot of emphasis on printing, but this 
is, of course, only one aspect of the history of the book. One could 
trace the history of the book through various types of media, such as 
cuneiform tablets, papyrus manuscripts, scrolls, codices, palm leaf 
manuscripts, and woodblock prints. We also address the materials 
used in traditional Western books, which may include vellum or 
linen paper, leather, wood, animal-based glue, linen thread, ink, and 
writing instruments. There is an undergraduate class called “Writing 
with Animals,” for which we have done presentations showing how 
deeply instrumental animals were for the production of books. For 
the class, we discuss vellum as both a writing substrate and cover 
material, various types of leather bindings, tortoise shell bindings, 
glue for bookbinding, quills, worm holes, and the various depictions 
of animals in books and manuscripts.

Another tool we have used on various occasions is a reproduction 
of Martin Luther’s 1529 German Litany. I selected this short book 
for its length and format. Since it is only sixteen pages in octavo 



362    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

format, it was originally printed on a single sheet of paper. Ann 
McShane, our digital assets librarian, scanned the original work.  
Then, using Adobe Photoshop, I arranged the pages onto a double-
sided sheet which we had printed. Thus, this single sheet of paper 
shows how an entire pamphlet could be printed with two pulls of 
the printing press. After the sheet is folded, sewn together, and cut, 
one is left with a printed book in the style of the sixteenth century.  
We’ve combined this octavo with a paste-paper binding workshop 
offered through our Conservation department, so that one could 
have a unique, but also historically-fitting, binding for their book.

Image 7: Photoshop setup for creating the octavo print of Martin Luther’s German 
Litany 

EXHIBITIONS

Exhibitions offer another venue for presenting information related to 
the history of the book, since this allows us to combine text, artwork, 
books, artifacts, props, multimedia, and activity guides to tell the 
exhibition’s narrative to various age groups. It goes without saying 
that an exhibition related to book history should include books. Books 
tell their own histories through their colophons, their accounts of 



Listen and Learn Sessions    363

printing, depictions of printing presses, or images of those involved 
in the craft of printing. Yet books, through material evidence, also 
provide details of the people with whom they are associated. Books 
can provide a lot of points of discussion, including their content and 
their sources of information, the context in which they were printed, 
how and when they were decorated or bound, who owned them, and 
how they were used. Books as physical objects connect the world 
of today with those people who made them hundreds of years ago. 
For instance, seeing a simple fingerprint, in the same black ink as 
the printed text, establishes a connection between us and the Jewish 
printer Eliezer Toledano of Lisbon (or his assistant), who printed 
Hebrew texts under the looming threat of persecution and expulsion 
in the Iberian Peninsula. Handwritten notes correct the printed text 
of Lucretius’s De rerum natura. Personalized bindings owned by the 
Earl of Sunderland highlight the craftsmanship of early eighteenth 
century bookbinders. A bookplate designed by Pablo Picasso for his 
friend and art dealer’s son, Alexandre Paul Rosenberg, illuminates 
some of the interconnectedness of the twentieth-century art world 
and book collecting. Knowing the history of a particular book adds 
an extra element of appreciation, elevating it from a simple witness 
of its original time period. 

Books or other contemporary prints become the source of exhibi-
tion artwork and when enlarged present their features in unintended, 
but sometimes powerful ways. One of the best illustrations of an 
early print shop is that of Johannes Stradanus called the Impressio 
Librorum, published in the late sixteenth century. The illustration 
demonstrates various tasks of the print shop, including composition, 
correcting prints, inking presses, operating the press, and drying and 
collating printed sheets. Though our library does not own a copy of 
the Stradanus print, high quality reproductions of it are in the public 
domain and freely available for use in exhibitions. 



364    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

Image 8: Reproduction of Stradanus’s Impressio Librorum displayed above an exhi-
bition case with printing props

Artifacts, props, and reproductions are excellent tools for present-
ing glimpses into various aspects of book history. The curators of our 
Materiality of Devotion exhibition (2018–2019) included a section on 
the implements and elements of writing, which included examples 
of a reed pen, a feather quill, yellow ocher, malachite, lapis lazuli, 
and oak galls. For last year’s This Sacred Art exhibition, I included 
various props from the printing process, including a few lines of 
type on a composing stick, ink balls, and a prepared printing forme 
with the text of John 1 in Latin. In another section we included two 
hand-carved woodcut blocks by the artist Jorge Lar of Denmark, 
which were used to print his edition of Aesop’s Fables. Having these 
props on display allows visitors to visualize what tools and materials 
were needed for book production.



Listen and Learn Sessions    365

Props can often be enhanced by supplying additional context. 
For this reason, we employed the services of two artists who created 
short videos demonstrating their respective areas of bookmaking. 
The two videos were simply looped to show repeatedly in the gallery 
for people to view at their leisure. The first artist was Jorge Lar of 
Prelo Press, who provided us the woodcut blocks and his edition of 
Aesop’s Fables. Lar participates in various demonstrations at fairs 
and other events bringing the traditional craft of printing to public 
audiences. In the video he recorded for us, he presents traditional 
printing practices: he levels and sets the printing forme, dampens 
the paper, inks the forme with ink balls, and pulls multiple prints 
using his replica printing press. While giving tours of the exhibition, 
people would ask questions about some of the props we had on 
display, and I was able to point them to the video to show how they 
were used. The second artist we worked with was Julia Bangert, an 
illuminator at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany. We asked 
Bangert to create an illuminated E for our Eusebius print and she 
did amazing work and provided a wonderful video for us. Though 
Bangert used modern paint brushes, the technique imitated historical 
decoration found in incunabula. The video she supplied was quite 
popular as people were drawn to seeing the talented artist at work. 

Image 9: Exhibition activity guide showing a student-made bookplate

Lastly, we have used printed brochures, catalogs, and activity 
guides to convey information from the exhibitions for various 
audiences. The activity guides, developed under the direction of 
our Coordinator of Digital Initiatives, Liz Miller, are aimed at K–12 
students, rather than college students. These guides relate important 
information about the exhibits in fun and interesting ways, such as 
fill-in-the-blank questions, scavenger hunts, crosswords, and drawing 



366    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

exercised. We had a section on book-ownership in the exhibition and 
here in the Activity Guide you can see that students were asked to 
create their own version of a bookplate, an example of which you 
can see in the image on the right.

I hope this presentation engenders a larger conversation about 
methods of incorporating the history of the book into library instruc-
tion. Though this is what has worked at Pitts Theology Library, it 
may look very different in other theological libraries. Some libraries 
have book labs and makerspaces and are well equipped to include 
hands-on learning as part of their curriculum. Yet the entry point 
for doing this type of teaching is not formidable. A small hobby 
letterpress can often be found for a few hundred dollars and, as I 
mentioned, printing cuts are abundant. Though not every library has 
a 3D printer or CNC machine (ours certainly does not) it is possible 
that people in the wider community would be happy to lend their 
services for educational purposes. Or there is always the Lego brick 
route. In terms of metal type, I find it useful to keep some around, 
perhaps in a composing stick or printing forme, for making the 
connection with Gutenberg and the most common way books were 
made in the West for the 500 years following the 1450s. 

Earlier I mentioned that as librarians we have a special interest—
some may say calling—to study the history of the book. I personally 
have found the subject matter quite rewarding since it addresses 
topics like human ingenuity, technology, and culture. Interacting with 
a 500-year-old book gives me a deeper appreciation for the content 
of that book and how many people were involved in bringing that 
book into the world. It is a remarkably rewarding experience to be 
able to share this information with students and others and so I hope 
that this presentation can help others in religious and theological 
libraries to think more about their work with teaching the history 
of the book.

REFERENCES

Bacon, Francis. 1813. The Novum Organum Scientiarum: In Two Parts. 
Translated by Peter Shaw. London: M. Jones.

Blades, William. 1819. The Pentateuch of Printing, With a Chapter on 
Judges. Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company.



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