HOW TO MAKE A BOOK: Demonstration by the International Printing Museum at the LAPL Mobile Museum Fair

At the recent LAPL Mobile Museum Fair held on January 13, more than twenty Los Angeles area small museums (and a few large ones with mobile exhibits) visited the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. 

One of my favorite exhibits was the International Printing Museum, where visitors were invited to make a book by folding handed out sheets first "like a taco" and then in half and half again to create a tiny Franklin's Gazette. The catch is how to cut the pages after they have been folded and then sew the binding. The man giving the talk showed how it can be done with an ordinary paper cutter and a device (something like a long stapler) when making a homemade book. Of course, when manufacturing large numbers of books, this is done in big machines.

I sometimes do a similar hands-on project with kids (using plain paper) in my author talks. After the paper has been folded and numbered, the kids can take their tiny book home and write their own story.

Among the quotes inside the tiny Franklin book is this: If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing.
Good advice for everybody, writer or not!