Center for the Book

Publications | Events

The Center for the Book at Mills College was established in 1989 to promote the cultural, literary, and aesthetic heritage of the book. Programs and projects encompass contemporary and historical concerns, and include the book arts, literacy, and local history. The Center for the Book involves both Mills College and the local communities, acknowledging the extraordinarily rich resources of the Bay Area. Projects sponsored or co-sponsored by the Center for the Book include publications, lectures and workshops by visiting or local book artists, historians, and others; exhibitions; conferences; and other special events. All the center’s events are free and open to the public unless otherwise specified.

Publications from the Center for the Book

Ordering information

Reading the Object: Three Decades of Books

Published by the Mills College Center for the Book and Flying Fish Press, 2016
Catalogue raisonne of Julie Chen and Flying Fish Press. With essays by Kathleen Walkup and Sandra Kroupa, and commentary by Julie Chen. Designed by Julie Chen. Printed offset.
ISBN 978-0-9648938-9-4. $30 Order here

Celebrating the Cultural Landscape Heritage of Mills College

by Vonn Marie May and Robert Sabbatini with Karen Fiene.
Mills College Center for the Book, 2008
ISBN 978-0-9648938-6-3. $18 Order here

Darius Milhaud Interviews with Claude Rostand

translated by Jane Hohfeld Galante.
First English translation of Entretiens avec Claude Rostand, Darius Milhaud (Zurfluh Editions, 1998). Designed by Peter Rutledge Koch and printed offset. Edition limited to 500 copies. 2002. This book is in print.
ISBN 0-9648938-4-3. $25 Order here

Why I Read Stein

by Charles Shere.
Designed by Michael Sumner; forward by Melody Sumner Carnahan.
Printed offset. 2002. This book is in print.
ISBN 0-9648938-5-1. $10 Order here

A Salon at Larkmead

A Salon at Larkmead, is about Lillie Hitchcock Coit's life in Napa Valley, based on the diaries of her mother, Martha Hitchcock, edited and arranged according to the seasons of a year. The diaries are part of the Hitchcock Coit Papers housed at the Special Collections Department of the F. W. Olin Library at Mills College. A Salon at Larkmead includes period photographs, news accounts, letters, poems, and recipes from Lillie Coit's journals. It was compiled and edited by Sally Kellman and Drew Sparks, who devoted several years researching Lillie Hitchcock Coit. This first edition was designed in a large square format and printed letterpress in three colors by Peter Rutledge Koch (Berkeley, California). The typefaces are Quadraat and Libra. The papers are Mohawk Superfine for the text and Cranes for the facsimiles. The book is richly illustrated with 48 duo-tone reproductions of nineteenth century photographs and several four-color ephemeral pieces. The book was bound by Peggy Gotthold in quarter Japanese cloth with printed Fabriano paper over boards. Edition limited to 250 copies. 1999. This book is in print.
ISBN 0-9648938-3-5. $195 Order here

The Flying Cloud and Her First Passengers

by Margaret Lyon and Flora Elizabeth Reynolds.
This is an account of the first voyage of the clipper ship, The Flying Cloud around Cape Horn. The book is based on a diary in the Israel Whitney Lyon Family Papers which are housed in the Mills College Special Collections. The first printing (1992) was limited to 200 copies and went out-of-print almost immediately. The book was reprinted in 1998 in an edition of 500 copies. 1998. This book is in print.
ISBN 0-9648938-2-7. $25 Order here

A Line Between the Word and the Way: A Celebration of the Life and Works of Lou Harrison

Designed and printed by students from the Mills College Book Art Program with previously unpublished poems by Lou Harrison. Printed letterpress at the Mills College Eucalyptus Press. Edition limited to 75 copies. 1997.
This book is out-of-print.

Literary and Cultural Journeys: Selected Letters to Arturo Torres-Rioseco

by Carlota Caulfield and Miguel Angel Zapata
This major contribution to the field of Spanish and Latin American Literature includes more than fifty letters from contemporary writers and poets (e.g., Gabriela Mistral, Miguel de Unamuno, Cecilia Meireles) to the Chilean scholar and writer Arturo Torres-Rioseco, during the early to mid-twentieth century. Scholarly commentary by the editors and others, and original Spanish or Portuguese text with facing English translations is included for each letter, as well as various appendices and bio-bibliographic information. Carlota Caulfield is Professor of Spanish at Mills College. Miguel Angel Zapata is Assistant Professor of Spanish at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. 1995. This book is in print. ISBN 0-9648938-1-9. $20

Events at the Center for the Book

2018

Sunday, September 23, 2018
3:00–5:00 pm

Opening event for A Passion for the Handmade: the Curatorial and Publishing Work of Linda L. Brownriggwith remarks by Professor Eileen Hogan (Camberwell, Chelsea, and Wimbledon Art Schools) and Carol Sauvion (Producer of Craft in America)

All events take place in the Heller Rare Book Room, F. W. Olin Library, Mills College and are open to the public.

Call or email Janice Braun (510.430.2047) for more information.

2016

Sunday, June 26th, 2016
2:30-4:30 pm

Opening event of the Mills College Summer Institute for Book and Print Technologies. Nationally known artists Tom Killion, Inge Bruggeman, and Julie Chen will show images and speak about their work.
A reception will follow the presentations.

2014

Sunday, November 2, 2014
2:00-4:00 pm

Opening Event for On These I Stand: An Exhibit of Rare Black Books and Collectibles

Conversation and Q&A featuring Ajuan Mance, Mills College professor of English, and Daphne Muse, writer, social commentator, and collector.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014
5:30-7:00 pm

Kelsey Street Press is pleased to celebrate 40 years of publishing experimental writing by women with a Mills College exhibition and special opening night event—a reading and conversation on embodiment, gender and experimental writing featuring a diverse and dynamic panel of poets.

Embodiment, Gender and Experimental Writing: A Reading and Conversation with Kelsey Street Press Poets and Friends

Panelists: Patricia Dienstfrey, Amber DiPietra, Eleni Stecopoulos, Nico Peck Moderator: Susan Gevirtz

Co-sponsored by Mills College Center for the Book, Mills English Department Contemporary Writers' Series, and Kelsey Street Press.

2013

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Lecture by artist and author Aimee Lee:
HANJI UNFURLED: ONE JOURNEY INTO KOREAN PAPERMAKING

In this talk, Aimee will share her experience of excavating Korean papermaking traditions with first-hand images, videos, and samples of hanji and paper objects.
A reception will follow the talk.
Co-sponsored with the Mills College Book Art Program.

Thursday, February 7, 2013, 4:00-5:30 pm

Opening and reception for the exhibition with a brief talk by curator Thomas Günther:
Poesie des Untergrunds / Poetry of the Underground from East Berlin/GDR, 1979-1989:
Artists' Books of Ten Women

For more information on the Center for the Book, please contact Janice Braun, Special Collections Librarian & Director, Center for the Book at 510.430.2047
or email her at jbraun@mills.edu.

Center for the Book

Publications from the Center for the Book

Events at the Center for the Book

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