Learn Bookbinding & Letterpress in London

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

Schools in London

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

• London Centre for Book Arts
  Bookbinding and book arts workshops
  The London Centre for Book Arts is an artist-run, open-access studio in east London offering hands-on workshops in bookbinding, letterpress printing and foil blocking alongside affordable studio access for makers.
  https://londonbookarts.org/
• City Lit
  City Lit bookbinding (three-term course)
  City Lit is a central London adult-education college whose purpose-built bookbinding studio offers courses from beginner to advanced, including a three-term program covering traditional binding, gold tooling, fine binding and conservation repair.
  https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/art-and-design/contemporary-crafts/bookbinding
• Society of Bookbinders workshops
  Designer Bookbinders / Society of Bookbinders Joint Workshops
  The Society of Bookbinders runs a yearly series of weekend workshops (jointly with Designer Bookbinders) at locations around the UK, offering structured tuition in traditional and contemporary binding techniques and a Certificates of Competence scheme.
  https://www.societyofbookbinders.com/pages/education

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.