Albuquerque/ Bernalillo County Library System
505-768-5167


Last updated 10/18/09


class trip to the Center

Center for the Book

Funded in part by the Friends for the Public Library, the Center for the Book is a hands-on learning center that presents programs on the history of books and printing to area school children and interested groups.

NEW! Traveling Trunks . Learn more.

Activities associated with the programs meet the New Mexico State Educational Standards and are geared toward students in the fourth through the eighth grades, but the Center is not just for children. The presentations are appropriate for older students and adults as well. The Center is located in the Special Collections Library, at 423 Central Ave NE. Call 505-848-1376 to schedule an appointment for groups of 15 or more.

scale-model replica of a Gutenberg-era printing press

Print Shop

A favorite part of the Center is The Print Shop. It functions as a working classroom with eight antique printing presses.

Two scale-model replicas of a Gutenberg-era printing press are available in the Center for the Book’s Print Shop.  Richard Hicks of Cedar Crest has spent a lifetime hand-crafting working replicas of early printing presses.  The Center is fortunate to have several examples of his fine work.

Other presses include: 1888 Chandler & Price Platen Printing Press

  1. Medieval Press replica
  2. Medieval Press replica donated by the ¡Explora! Museum
  3. Large Common Press
  4. 1888 Chandler & Price Platen Press - Old Style with "S" spokes on the flywheel
  5. Small Common Press
  6. 1945 Miehle V-50 Vertical Press
  7. Multilith 85 Offset Pres, ca 1975
  8. Mergenthaler Linotype Model 91, ca. 1925
broadside The Center produces letterpress printing, hand-set in moveable foundry type. Mountains of Books for Sale broadside is the first in a series of fine-art broadsides available for sale. Jane Hellesoe-Henon, an Albuquerque artist and Friends Pricing and Sorting volunteer, has created an original linoleum cut which the Center has printed as an 11" x 17" broadside on commercial paper and sells for $5.00

Interested in volunteering?    Need more information?

Volunteer docents are needed to guide visitors through the Center experience. If you are interested in volunteering, call the Center for the Book at 505-848-1376.