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Virtual Lecture: Book Anatomy: The Body Politics of Indigenous Book History

Zoom CA, United States

Dr. Amy Gore, assistant professor of English at North Dakota State University, will discuss the connections between books, bodies, and Indigenous book history at the release of her latest monograph, Book Anatomy: Body Politics and the Materiality of Indigenous Book History (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023). From a book’s “spine” to its “appendix,” bibliographers use a language […]

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The Deserts of California: A California Field Atlas

Mechanics' Institute


The San Francisco Chronicle #1 bestselling author Obi Kaufmann of the canonical California Field Atlas returns with an epic, forward-looking exploration of the state’s arid eastern regions. The Deserts of California: A California Field Atlas blends science and art in Kaufmann’s signature style to throw into relief ecological insights greater than either might yield alone. Through expressionistic mapmaking, wildlife renderings, […]

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The Orange and the Dream of California

the blinn house 160 N Oakland Ave, Pasadena, CA, United States

The Orange and the Dream of California takes a lively, literary, and extraordinarily visual look at the symbiotic and highly symbolic relationship between the Golden State and its “golden apple.” Untold thousands of adventurers and health-seekers came West in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, lured by postcards of orange blossoms juxtaposed to snow-capped […]

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Kate Ozment on the Hroswitha Club

Zoom CA, United States

The Hroswitha Club was a bibliographic society whose members were all women. Why? Well, it certainly couldn’t have been because when this women’s-only bibliographic society was formed during the 1940s, women with a passion for books, book collecting, and book arts weren’t permitted to join organizations such as New York’s Grolier Club or a similarly […]

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A People’s History of SFO

Mechanics' Institute


Starting with the very land SFO was built on, A People' History of SFO sees the airport as a microcosm of the forces at work in the Bay Area—from its colonial history and early role in trade, mining, and agriculture to the economic growth, social sanctuary, and environmental transformations of the twentieth century. In lively, engaging […]

Rancho Mirage Writers Festival

rancho mirage library 71-100 CA-111, Rancho Mirage, United States

The Tenth Annual Rancho Mirage Writers Festival will be January 31–February 2, 2024.   The Rancho Mirage Writers Festival is a world-class gathering of the finest writers who contribute to the intellectual vitality of our time. The City of Rancho Mirage, California, welcomes 60 authors and 1,000 readers from around the globe to the Rancho […]

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Searching for Patty Hearst

Mechanics' Institute


On the night that Patty Hearst was kidnapped in 1974, journalist Roger D. Rapoport was a short drive away in his El Cerrito home. He quickly became one of the primary reporters covering the saga as it unfolded in real time. His reporting gave local and national readers a window into one of the most […]

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The Life, Motto, and Library of William Walker (1570-1642), Vicar of Chiswick

The Book Club of California 312 Sutter Street Ste 500, San Francisco, CA, United States

Approximately twenty-five printed books and ten manuscripts have been located from before 1640 which bear the florid inscription: “Will and Walke aright. Will: Walker,” usually appearing on the title-page of a printed book, or on the first or last leaf of a manuscript. This talk will attempt to identify the author of the inscription and […]

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Music Engraving in the Digital Age

Zoom CA, United States

Our first Letterform Lecture of 2024 explores the challenges facing music notation software today.   Once the province of specialists who had undergone a long training, the widespread availability of music notation software from the 1990s on has given everyone the ability to produce sheet music themselves. For all the benefits, this has come at […]

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Illustrated Black History

Mechanics' Institute


with author George McCalman in conversation with Tonya Foster Join artist and author George McCalman in conversation with poet and professor Tonya Foster on McCalman’s book, Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen. Illustrated Black History is a breathtaking collection of original portraits depicting black heroes—both famous and unsung—who made their mark on activism, science, politics, […]

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Disappearing Art—the History and Craftsmanship of the Vanishing Fore-edge

Zoom CA, United States

Immerse yourself in the magic of the vanishing fore-edge, where paintings fade into gold. Join acclaimed artist Martin Frost in a virtual webinar discussing the history of the vanishing fore-edge. Benefit from valuable insights and techniques derived from the artist’s extensive 57 years of expertise in this revered craft. Martin Frost stands as a distinguished […]

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Bibliophiles Beware: The Situationist International and the Art & Politics of Cultural Hijacking

Zoom CA, United States

Active between 1957 and 1972, The Situationist International (S.I.) was a revolutionary alliance of artists, intellectuals, architects and political theorists that is hailed as the “last avant-garde” of the 20th century. One of the organization’s core concepts is that of détournement, which can be understood as the subversion of established cultural commodities as a means […]