MTSU Book and Printing Arts and History

ART 3960 is taught by Laura Cochrane and looks at the history of the book from the earliest writings on clay tablets to the modern and contemporary book, including digital books. The class looks at the history of book formats, discussing the shift from scrolls to codices; and from hand written texts and images to print. We also spend a significant amount of time on how medieval books were written, constructed, bound, and decorated, with students attempting many medieval book-making techniques by hand. Students also get to use the Department of Art and Design’s replica eighteenth-century printing press that is housed in our letterpress room. The class is usually taught every other spring semester and sometimes in the summer.