Scholarly building: screw-letterpress prints with the BookBeetle press Nov 2, 2024 • Amanda Wyatt Visconti Last Saturday was the 1st session of Josef Beery’s Alphabuzz at the the Virginia Center for the Book Book Arts: a cohort of letterpress folks learning how to teach public & K-12 letterpress printing with the BookBeetle, a reproduction historical screw letterpress designed to be ultra-accessible for public and teaching use. We did 6 letterpress printing exercises aimed at public teaching various age groups from kindergarten up, including letterpress printing with legos, Josef’s new BookBlossom wood type, a Declaration of Independence photopolymer plate, & my fave: cutting craft foam to make a bestiary book! The remaining three sessions will involve: our teaching K-12 teachers how to teach with the press, our teaching those teachers and their students, and a daylong intensive on letterpress history and practice (including printing on a Franklin Common Press!).