Book of Books

Penland Book of Books

The death of the book (and the library, too) has been proclaimed over and over again in recent years, but a trip to western North Carolina will show that the age-old art of making books by hand is alive and well. We’ve been looking through The Penland Book of Handmade Books, a collaboration between Lark Books and the Penland School of Crafts. The book includes ten features on current book artists, all of whom have taught classes at Penland. These are not your traditional library books. From the covers to the pages to the display of text, these creative works challenge and re-imagine the very idea of a book, and, together, celebrate a format that is hardly on the decline: at Penland, at least, books are thriving.