University of Alabama Institute for Book Arts Papers

The first book arts course at the University of Alabama was taught by Dr. Raymond F. McLain in 1972, as an interim course, "Basic Design and Practice in Printing." McLain created the course after a call was made for suggestions for courses that were not currently offered at the university. The course was part of the Graduate School of Library Service and served to support "History of Books and Printing," a course taught by the dean of the library school, James D. Ramer.

When the course was created, there was no typographic laboratory in the library school, but James B. Boone, Jr., stepped forward to offer his support. Boone had recently purchased a small newspaper and was converting the paper from letterpress to offset production. He invited McLain to the facility and told him to take whatever he wanted. McLain took “two presses, some typefaces and California job cases, type cabinets, and miscellaneous tools such as composition sticks and rules” (Alabama Journalist 1976 April 2). Boone and a friend helped the program secure a $750 grant from the Alabama Press Association in 1973, that helped pay for other necessary supplies.

In 1974, McLain drafted Glenn House, Sr., the first full-time artist at the University of Alabama Press, to help teach the printing classes. Prior to this, Jim Wilder, director of University Relations, had been teaching the printing classes. The next year, House attended the Alabama Book Arts Conference, where he met Carolyn Hammer, who invited him to study with her in Lexington, Kentucky. Previously, Dr. McLain, while president of Transylvania College, had invited Hammer’s husband, Victor, to set up his press in Lexington in 1948.

In 1975, House traveled to Lexington to study the hand press under Hammer and calligraphy with Calvert Guthrie. Later in the year, Carolyn Hammer traveled to Verona, Italy, to commission a two-volume Hammer biography. Richard-Gabriel Rummonds sought her out, stating his interest in teaching printing practices in a U.S. book arts program. Hammer contacted Alabama on Rummonds’ behalf, and he became a visiting professor at the University. Rummonds taught letterpress printing on and off for 11 years, from 1977 to 1988.

By the spring of 1977, the typographic laboratory had set up its student press, Gorgas Oak Press. In an undated letter to Carolyn Hammer, House writes that there was some disagreement over the naming of the press, with Jim Ramer advocating “Tuscala Press” and Raymond McLain suggesting “Black Warrior Press.” Dean Ramer suggested putting the matter to a vote before the library school faculty. The faculty selected Gorgas Oak Press, and House states “rather than being elated that the obviously better choice won, I somehow have the feeling that I lost.” That year, the press printed its first book, The Child’s View of Secession, under the direction of Rummonds. The work was bound by Carolyn Whitesel of Lexington, Kentucky. That same year, the Master in Library Studies degree offered its first concentration in book arts.

In 1979, House and Rummonds began to push for the creation of a book arts program, stating worries that other disciplines were abandoning book arts and that the art of book making could be lost. In 1981, students under the direction of Glenn House hand-made the paper for invitations to the 150th anniversary of the founding of the University. By 1982, Rummonds had established Parallel Editions, another press run at the typographic laboratory. The same year, Steve Miller taught a summer workshop on printing on the Vandercook press. In 1988, a binding curriculum was established by Paula Gourley. The curriculum was only one of two such programs in the nation. The same year, Steve Miller was hired as a tenure-track printing faculty member.