Learn Bookbinding & Letterpress in Ascona

Honest level: Intermediate -> Professional — ask the school exactly how far that goes in the time you have.

Schools in Ascona

Checked by hand against each school's own course pages. No school paid to be listed.

• American Academy of Bookbinding (Telluride/Ann Arbor)
  Intensive fine-leather binding and conservation courses
  The American Academy of Bookbinding, founded in Telluride in 1993 with a satellite campus in Ann Arbor, runs week-long intensive courses progressing from introductory case binding through fine leather binding, conservation and diploma-track study.
  https://bookbindingacademy.org/
• North Bennet Street School (Boston)
  Two-year full-time Bookbinding program
  North Bennet Street School in Boston's North End offers North America's only two-year full-time Bookbinding program (six students a year), teaching historical and modern binding structures, leather binding, finishing and conservation.
  https://nbss.edu/full-time-programs/bookbinding/

The credential

Hand-bound original books made with traditional techniques, plus command of sewing, case-making, leather binding and decorated-paper finishing · Certifying body: —

A recognised qualification an outside body stands behind is not the same as a certificate a school prints itself. We name which it is — you should ask the school the same.

Also for Bookbinding & Letterpress

What I check before I send you anywhere

I'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.

• The craft is actually alive there. A working scene, with people who do this every day — not a demo put on for visitors.
• There's a real teacher behind it. Named, still practising, and certified where the craft has certificates.
• The credential is what it claims to be. A state diploma and a certificate a school prints itself are not the same thing. I check which, and I say which.
• I tell you how sure I am. Most pages here are verified by hand. A few say "still checking" — I'd rather admit that than pretend.
• Nobody pays to be here. No commission, no selling the trip. The order on this map is the strength of the community, never the size of the wallet.
• If I wouldn't send a friend, it isn't on the map.