Museums & Libraries

The Book Art Museum is a library of knowledge about the history and the future of a book. In fact it is a library of “books about books” which have been collected since the beginning of the museum. Most of the books, due to the poor condition of the building (leaking roof, for example) are stored in boxes. Library equipment is being collected as well (mainly donations), however not as intensely as we would like due to the unclear legal status of the building. The “Library of books about books” i

The Musée de l'Imprimerie is a museum in Lyon, France, with the mission of enhancing, conserving, documenting and valuing the heritage of printed books and graphic. The Musee de l'Imprimerie was established in Lyon because Lyon had been a centre of printing and the book trade in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries and the city held large historical collections of books and the graphic arts. The museum was designed by the master printer and historian Maurice Audin, with the historian of th

The Printing Trade section of the “Museum der Arbeit” is located on the first floor; this section looks at letterpress printing , the gradual mechanisation of the industry and its end. The exhibition focuses on the evolution of printing with movable type, a process that is over five hundred years old. To illustrate these complex processes and make them understandable, the museum has chosen three different approaches, which are presented here in three different rooms: workshops where various meth

Take a look back at the printing trade in an authentic atmosphere, with the smells of lead and ink. You can operate the machines and use the old tools which allowed during five centuries the reproduction of the writing and the image. The Musée de l’Imprimerie houses various lithographs, typesetting apparatus and even early modern machines. Guided tours are conducted throughout the day, giving visitors an expert view on the significance of the machines.

The Museo Bodiano is dedicated to the work of Giambattista Bodoni, who founded la Stamperia Reale (the Royal Printing-house) in 1768. The museum features a thousand Bodoni editions, over 12,000 letters, and an extraordinary set of punches, dies and tools from the Stamperia Reale.  (Photo: Antonio Tombolini CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum is the only museum dedicated to the preservation, study, production and printing of wood type. With 1.5 million pieces of wood type and more than 1,000 styles and sizes of patterns, Hamilton's collection is one of the premier wood type collections in the world. In addition to wood type, the Museum is home to an amazing array of advertising cuts from the 1930s through the 1970s, and all of the equipment necessary to make wood type and print with it, as w

Opened in 1985, The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography was created in order to preserve an unprecedented resource, Herb Lubalin’s vast collection of work. Its goal was to provide the design community with a means to honor Lubalin, and to study his innovative work. Herb Lubalin (1918–1981) is best known for his wildly illustrative typography and his groundbreaking work for the magazines Avant Garde, Eros, and Fact. The Study Center's core collection includes an extensive archive o

MATS is a Working Printing Museum in Sibiu, Romania, that shares the tools and skills to showcase and teach letterpress printing techniques.

The Museum of Typography is located in the Park of Local Industries in Souda, Crete. It constitutes the life vision of its founder, Yannis Garedakis, founder and editor of the newspaper “Haniotika nea”. The Museum of Typography officially opened its gates in May 2005. The museum collection includes hard to find, cast iron printing presses and other machines, as well as tools and objects that present the development of typography from birth, in the days of Gutenberg, up to our days. Rare boo

One of the world's oldest museums for printing, the Gutenberg Museum invites visitors on a journey through four millennia of book, printing, and script culture. From cuneiform inscriptions to modern typography, from manuscripts to printing presses, from a reconstruction of Gutenberg's workshop and two original Gutenberg Bibles to the print shop (Druckladen), the museum's educational project space, the permanent and special exhibitions offer a comprehensive overview of all aspects of   the "black

The Buchstabenmuseum (“Museum of Letters”) was founded in 2005. It is a non-profit organization and devoted to preserving and documenting letterforms. Hundreds of signs have alredy been rescued from decay and the scrap heap. They are now on display in Berlin. The current address is Holzmarktstraße 66, near Alexanderplatz. 

The Pavillon-Presse is a museum of the printing arts in the city of Weimar, Germany. In the 2017 the museum opened a library with a focus on typography and type specimens. 

Leipzig is a city with rich traditions of bookmaking and publishing. The Druckkunst-Museum (“Museum of the Printing Arts”) is unique for the scope and diversity of its exhibits. The outstanding feature of this museum is that all appliances, tools and machines are not presented as mute testimonies to their time, but as vivid working demonstrations of a wide range of techniques. Hands-on experimentation plays a major role, making the museum ideal as a platform for courses and workshops. A further

The Museum of Printing in Armidale (Australia) houses a historically significant collection of printing machinery and equipment which comprise the FT Wimble & Co. Collection. The collection includes printing presses, a Linotype machine, guillotines, book binding equipment, wooden and metal type and a history of printing in Australia from 1850 to the early 1900s. There are over 1000 printing blocks and a comprehensive library of books on printing and technical manuals. Displays of small equip

The Museum Plantin-Moretus is unique. It is just as if after 440 years the working day is about to begin for the type founders, compositors, printers and proofreaders in the world-famous printing works. The oldest printing presses in the world are there, intact and ready to roll. The offices and shop echo with conversations between Christoffel Plantijn and aristocratic and scholarly clients from all over the world. Feast your eyes on the home of the Plantin and Moretus families! Stroll thro

The National Print Museum collects, documents, preserves, exhibits, interprets and makes accessible the material evidence of the printing craft and fosters associated skills of the craft in Ireland. History With the advancement in new technologies in the 1980s, letterpress printing was being made redundant. A group of like-minded printers and typesetters, spear-headed by former compositor and union official Mr Sean Galavan, fortunately had the foresight to start collecting pr

The Newspaper and Printing Museum preserves the equipment and methods of letterpress and linotype printing. The museum also holds an extensive collection of early newspapers from throughout Whitman County and has rotating exhibitions featuring artifacts and photographs from the region. While all of the equipment used by early-day printers is still operational, it is obsolete or unsuited to modern printing practices. This equipment and the extensive collection of county newspapers provide a uniqu

The Crandall Historical Printing Museum offers a museum of printing methods as well as hands-on exhibits. It is a living documentary of the role the written and printed word has had on history. The museum features replicas of famous historic shops and presses including a re-creation of the world’s oldest printing house. Watch as type is cast and a page of the Gutenberg Bible is printed. See Benjaman Franklin’s Printing House and the Grandin Print Shop where the first Book of Mormon was printed.

The Type Archive holds the National Typefounding Collection, purchased with grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund; broadly comprising;  the typefounding materials of the Sheffield typefounders, Stephenson Blake, a collection dating from 16th century London typefounders to their 20th century counterparts;  the hot-metal archive and plant of the Monotype Corporation, operating from Salfords in Surrey from 1897, and in London's Lambeth from 1992 to date; the Woodlette

The Nederlands Drukkerij Museum (Dutch Printing Museum) is situated in Etten-Leur and presents the history of printing and book making. Exhibitions and printing and bookbinding workshops are also offered. 

The “Historische Drukkerij Turnhout” is a printing museum in the city of Turnhout in Belgium. It opens every other sunday (free of charge) or by appointment. 

The Klingspor-Museum Offenbach is a museum for Modern International Book Art, Typography and Calligraphy.  On 7. November 1953 the Klingspor-Museum opened its doors to visitors the first time. During the post-war years the City of Offenbach am Main founded a small museum for the art of modern book production and typography. The basis of the museum was the valuable collection of books of Dr. h.c. Karl Klingspor (1868–1950), who together with his brother Wilhelm operated a typefoundry in the

Vingaards Officin is a Danish printing museum in the city of Viborg. It shows working printing machines like Monotype, Intertype linecasting, Ludlow, Typograph, Intertype photosetter, Heidelberg cylinder. The museum opens Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

The book has shaped our culture and civilisation like no other medium. For centuries our knowledge about the world and its peoples has been stored, handed down and updated in books. The task of the German Museum of Books and Writing (Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum) is to collect, exhibit and process evidence of book and media history. Founded in 1884 as the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum (German Book Trade Museum), it was integrated in the Deutsche Bücherei in 1950 following the loss of its buil

The Museum of Printing is dedicated to preserving the rich history of the graphic arts, printing and typesetting technology, and printing craftsmanship. In addition to many special collections and small exhibits, the Museum contains hundreds of antique printing, typesetting, and bindery machines, as well as a library of books and printing-related documents. A non-profit organization, the Museum was incorporated in 1978 as The Friends of The Museum of Printing, Inc., to save and preserve pri

The museum is located in the attractive former residence of the Baron Van Westreenen van Tiellandt (1783-1848) and is devoted to the hand-written and printed book of the past and present. The external aspects of the book and the development of book design are the main focus. The museum organizes three to four temporary exhibitions a year on themes related to both the old and modern book. The history of the book since the sixth century The museum maintains an extensive collect

Located in a 19th century building on the Moika River Embankment which housed various different editorial offices, including those of Pravda, the famous Communist newspaper, for six months in 1917, the Museum of Printing has a permanent exhibition which features the newspaper-making process. A collection of old printing equipment of the edge of the 19th–20th centuries is displayed in the publishing room.

From the invention of typesetting with moveable types by Gutenberg in the middle of the fifteenth century, until the advent of the computer some five hundred years later, printing had been a highly skilled but labour intensive process. The John Jarrold Printing Museum is a window on the many hours and variety of skills that were involved in printing before they were made obsolete by advancing technology. The Museum is open from 09.30 to 12.30 every Wednesday and by special arrangement. 

Since its inception in 1891 the Foundation has opened its doors to the people of Fleet Street, Farringdon and the surrounding areas and welcomed them into what was, and is, one of the most fascinating community focused organisations in the City of London. The Foundation was originally designed to provide a social, cultural and recreational centre for local people with particular emphasis for those in the printing and associated trades.  Apart from the Printing School and outstanding technic

The C.C. Stern Type Foundry is a non-profit working museum of metal type and casting equipment founded in 2009 and located in Portland, Oregon. Its mission is to preserve the heritage of America’s typecasting industry; educating people in the history of metal type and typography, its continued design influence and modern applications; and inspiring graphic artists and printers to pursue new directions using traditional practices. The Museum of Metal Typography provides a gathering place for type

Letterform Archive in San Francisco is a nonprofit center for inspiration, education, and collaboration in the letter arts. It serves existing & potential practitioners, students, and admirers of typography, calligraphy, graphic design, the history of written communication, and adjacent fields. It is open to all, free of charge.  Letterform Archive shares its world-class collection with a global audience through visits; public events; courses, workshops, and lectures by visiting artists and

This Museum of the Art of Printing  is situated in the centre of Maastricht. It is located in a 19th-century house with an inner courtyard and a chapel building. Here you will find a unique historic printing establishment dating from 1900. The museum offers a historic overview of the art of printing, with the help of various materials and tools, ranging from the first bookblocks to etchings by Rembrandt and litho prints by de Toulouse-Lautrec. Several old printing presses are still operational

The State Museum of Books and Book Printing of Ukraine was founded in 1972 and opened to the public in 1975. It is situated witthin the territory of  Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (National Historic-Cultural Reserve) in the building of former printing house which was operating for over 300 years (from 17th to the early 20th century).  The museum’s collection comprises over 58 thousand items: the unique handwritten manuscripts (15th-17th centuries), the first Ukrainian printed publications - “Apostle”

The Printing Museum was established in 1996 to preserve and to protect the material and cultural values of the Cieszyn printing guilds. Its aim is also to commemorate the rich traditions of typography in the area of Cieszyn. All the machinery is in perfect working condition. The museum is one of the best- equipped places of its kind in the entire country. It also collects all possible documents on the history of printing and on persons of merit in this field. Beside visiting, the museu

The Kner Printing Museum has been operating since 1970 in the former house of Imre Kner. The house was built in 1925, according to the sketches of the arhitect and graphic Lajos Kozma, in popular baroque style. The exhibition of the museum show the works of the members of Kner family and the history of the Kner press from its opening of 1882 up to our days. The museum operates only during the summer season.  Izidor Kner founded his printing house in 1882. The founder and his sons were respe

The first book ever printed in Spain (a devotional book exalting the Virgin Mary) was made in Valencia in 1474. This museum was founded as a tribute to this event and is located in the El Puig de Santa María Royal Monastery. It has many extremely valuable facsimile books, as well as wooden presses, letter moulds, printers’ marks, hand-carved relief plates and printing implements from Gutenberg's era. Since the museum's creation in 1986, the collection has expanded thanks to the addition of priva

The Museum of Lithography (Litografiska Museet) in Huddinge (Sweden) is a combined museum and workshop specialized in stone printing. The goal is to keep the art of lithography alive. With workshops, school activities, exhibitions and visiting lithographers the museum shows the original direct print in old presses and in the high speed printing press “Johanna” from the late 19th century. There are also artists in residence working at the museum. The museum owns a collection of art works, posters

The Imprenta Municipal is a printing museum in Madrid. Its origin dates from 1853, with the establishment of Saint Bernardino Orphanage Printing Office to supply the printing needs of the City Council. The building was designed in 1931 and opened in 1933 for use as a printing office. It is an interesting example of Rationalism and Art Deco style. In 2009 it was refurbished to be used as a printing museum. The Imprenta Municipal material collection is a very rich one, with historical machine

The Grafiska Museet is a printing museum with working letterpress machines (platen presses, Typograph, Linotype) in Linköping, Sweden. The museum also offers workshops and exhibitions. 

2012 marked the 500th anniversary of Armenian printing. In honor of this 500 year history, the National Library of Armenia decided to create a museum about Armenian printing in order to show the importance of printing in Armenia’s history as well as to present the rich products that the National Library has. The collection includes exhibits on antique books, history of Armenian printing, printing equipment, Clichés, printing machines and other subsidiary scientific research to provide for a

The British Printing Museum is a comprehensive private museum collection of letterpress printing equipment with working press exhibits dating from 1860 up to the 1960s. Open to the public by prior arrangement and to industry and education groups for meetings, workshops and demonstrations, the museum collection is based upon some of the original presses, type, wood letter and printing blocks used by The Portland Press, Mablethorpe from the 1940s and added to significantly. Activities include: Let

Gray’s Printing Press is located behind an 18th-century shop front in the heart of Strabane, once the famous printing town of Ulster. It is here that the printer of the American Declaration of Independence is said to have learned his trade. The collection includes 19th century printing machinery and a fine collection of wood and metal type. The items can also be browsed online. 

Inaugurated in 1987, in Campos do Jordão, the Xylography Museum is a private museum in a building erected in 1928. This house formerly sheltered the Benedictine Nuns of the Saint John Monastery. Today it headquarters the company Editora Mantiqueira (Mantiqueira Publishing House), which sponsors the Xylography Museum. The Museum collects and preserves woodcut and wood engraved prints, that is, printings made on paper (or another support material) from a wood block. This technique is also kno

Atelier-Musée Imprimerie (AMI) is a large printing museum in Malesherbes, 70 kilometers South of Paris. Created by Jean-Paul and Chantal Maury it offers 5,000 square meters of exhibition space including workshops where visitors can make paper or learn the arts and crafts of paper marbling, type composition, printing and bookbinding. The 700 objects on display include 150 machines. 

The Amsterdam University holds several special collections (“bijzondere collecties”) including one for graphic design and typography.  This collection domain relates primarily to the industrial era, i.e. the period from circa 1830 onwards. It covers writing (calligraphy and type design) and the production and design of books, posters and other printing. The collection is internationally oriented collection and also includes secondary literature. The basis for this collection domain was laid in 1

A museum of the printing arts in Montréal, Canada. 

The Letterpress Depot: a living museum of letterpress printing, typography, design, poetry and art – a working vintage letterpress printshop, with space for exhibits, demonstrations, workshops, events and meetings, as well as typographic research and printing projects – to be a resource available to the community.  

Tipoteca Italiana was established in 1995 to preserve and foster the arts of letterpress printing and handset typography. Its goal is to highlight the rich history and significant contributions of Italian type designers from the earliest days of printing, through the Industrial Revolution, to the present time. Tipoteca houses not only an extraordinary collection of metal and hand-cut wood typefaces, but also maintains an archive, a printing museum, a functioning print studio, and an extensi

The Musée Imprimerie à Bordeaux is a museum for the printing arts in the French city of Bordeaux. 

The Estonian Printing Museum hosts a collection of letterpress presses, typefaces and other printhouse machinery from mid-19th to late 20th century. The soul of the museum is however the activities in workshops, from printing your own postcard to working on a linocut art print. It does not matter what age you are or whether you can draw. As longs you know your ABC, there is a lot of ways to explore your creative side and learn something about the art of printing in the process. Officially t