These Hands Have Touched Greatness

Have I mentioned that I am really enjoying my letterpress class at the University of Utah? Well, it is pretty awesome, if I haven't said so already. Because the Letterpress department is part of the Special Collection Division of the Merritt Library, our class has had the opportunity to view and handle several rare books from the Rare Books Department. Each class has been amazing, but this last lecture contained books I never thought I would ever have the chance to view (and I am not talking behind a glass display case), let along handle.

As I was mentioning, tonight I had the opportunity to touch, smell, and view under a loop a leaf from the Gutenberg Bible. It was truly amazing to be able to see one leaf from the copies he printed. Gutenberg's story is really pretty sad, seeing that he was financially ruined from his printing press adventures -- thank you Mr. Gutenberg, for all of your dedication and hard work!

There were several others that I was able to touch, and handle there just isn't enough time to cover everything. If you have an interest in rare books, I highly recommend stopping by the Merritt Library at the University of Utah some time.