• Collections
  • SWEAT

    The SWEAT broadsheet Collaboration

    The Rosa Trillo Clough Archive of Italian Futurism
    Books as Aesthetic Objects

    The essential focus of the collection is on artists' books

    
    Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here

    Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition -one of only ten in the world-

    
    
• Events
  • 
    Upcoming Events

    Socials, Gallery Talks, Exhibition Openings, Makers' Meets

    Workshops

    Books Arts 101, Paper Making, Box Design, Binding, Letterpress

• Exhibitions
  • 
    Fall 2017

    To Be Announced

    JCBA Media
• About Us
  • Helen M. Salzberg A.I.R.

    Artists and Residence Program founded in 2011

    
    Arthur Jaffe

    Founder, Director, Visionary of the Jaffe Center for Book Arts

    
    JCBA Staff

    Meet the talented invdividuals whom make up the Jaffe Center

    
    

• Events
  

  The number .918 is of immense importance here at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts and for anyone involved in the old and venerable craft of letterpress printing: .918 inches is the standard height of all the types we use, from the very smallest to the largest. It's a number that reminds us of 9/18, and so for years now, JCBA has been celebrating Letterpress Appreciation Day on the 18th of September.

• Workshops
  

  September is that time of year when we here in Florida begin to get a little punch drunk on summer. The heat and humidity have been with us for so long, it's hard to imagine life without them. Each day is very much the same as the one that came before it and the next day will probably be just like today: About 90 degrees, sunny, with a good chance of an afternoon thunderstorm. What we need is a little change of pace. What we need is a good escape.

• Events
  

  Thousands of letters have been sent out to friends near and far thanks to Real Mail Fridays, JCBA's famous monthly letter writing socials. It's all based on the magic that emanates from your mailbox when you find a real handwritten letter in there. Real Mail Fridays are about connecting with friends and family through the simple act of connecting pen to paper. We supply everything you need: papers, letterpress printed cards, pens and inks, rubber stamps and other art supplies.

• Events
  

  Wayzgoose? Yes, Wayzgoose! A wayzgoose is an old English printers’ celebration, traditionally on St. Bartholomew’s Day (the 24th of August). By the arrival of Bartlemas each waning summer, printers in England needed to light lamps and candles to beef up the sunlight to set type for their projects. And on that day, a good printshop proprietor would bring in not just the lamps and candles, but also some good food and strong ale to boot. Was there goose involved? Maybe. All we know is this annual printers’ celebration became known eventually as a Wayzgoose.

Welcome to Jaffe Center for Book Arts

Schedule a Tour

Support The Center

The Jaffe Center for Book Arts is South Florida's hub for research and instruction in artists' books and book arts topics. The center revolves around the Book Arts Gallery, which houses the Jaffe Collection. We think of the space as a hybrid of a library and an art gallery. Exhibitions, gallery talks, films and performances and our popular Book Arts 101 presentations all take place inside the gallery in the midst of this inspiring collection of artists' books, as do university class sessions and community group tours of the Jaffe Center. Our approach to the Book Arts Gallery takes a cue from artists' books, which encourage us to see things differently... and so the gallery has even been the setting for intimate concerts with artists like Jane Siberry, Matt Alber, and The Boston Camerata.

The Jaffe Center Studios

Our Letterpress Studio is housed in the room that originally held the Jaffe Collection. Equipment includes two Vandercook proof presses, a Potter proof press, and a tabletop platen press, all from the twentieth century. A nineteenth century Wesel iron handpress is the central feature in the room; the handpress was a gift to us from Brien and Beverly Varnado of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The Wesel is our workhorse each year for Letterpress Appreciation Day (September 18), at which you can be a 19th century printer yourself! The studio also houses a collection of mid-twentieth century advertising cuts (a gift to us from Lee Kline of Miami) that represents somewhat of a graphic design history of 1950s to 1970s Miami.

Book Studio 350C is our setting for teaching workshops and classes in bookbinding, book structures, boxmaking, paper decoration, and other such topics. It includes comfortable work stations, board shears, and numerous nipping presses.

JCBA's Paper Lab is in a satellite location at T6, one of FAU's historic World War II era buildings on the northeast corner of campus. It is the setting for instruction in hand papermaking topics, as well as paper decoration. Equipment includes a Renna Hollander Beater, vats, felts, moulds and deckles, and a hydraulic press. A second book studio, designed to accommodate larger workshops, is also located at Historic T6, across from our Paper Lab.

Arthur Jaffe

Together with his late wife, Mata, Arthur built an outstanding collection of books as aesthetic objects focused on artists' books and limited editions. His collection began over 50 years before he and Mata gave these books to FAU in 1998. Rather than being the end of something, that gift was an inspired beginning, garnering an enthusiastic group of loyal supporters that grows with each passing year. The Arthur & Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts is their legacy.

(Arthur Jaffe, 1921-2015) 

The Arthur & Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts. Wimberly Library, Room 350 Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road Boca Raton, Florida 33431 Telephone: 561.297.0226.