American Bookbinders Museum

A growing collection of machines, books, and periodicals for bookbinders spurred Tim Janes on a heroic quest to offer an authentic nineteenth-century bookbindery experience to visitors. The museum holds an extensive collection of bookbinding literature and equipment. Located at 355 Clementina St., the ABM is only accessible via docent-led tour, Tuesdays – Saturdays from 10-4. General admission is $10.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Arno River flood, the American Bookbinders Museum is pleased to host Books and Mud: the drowned libraries of Florence, an exhibition examining and commemorating the "Mud Angels" and the tools and techniques that were created to reclaim and restore hundred of thousands of books and documents devastated by the flood. Books and Mud is open to the public Tuesday – Saturday from 10-4; admission is free.

Courtesy of the ABM.

Atelier Contakos & Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books

Atelier Contakos and Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books present Didier Mutel: ΛCID = LIFE: Mapping Engraving in the ​V​SΛ​, ​an exhibition of works on paper and artist books, during Rare Book Week West. Mutel is a French artist, engraver, printer, and one of his generation’s foremost book artists. His workshop, Atelier Didier Mutel, is the oldest etching studio in France, founded in 1793. An opening reception with the artist is scheduled for Saturday, February 4, from 3-9 p.m., and another reception will be held on Thursday, February ​9, from 5-8 p.m. The gallery is located in San Francisco at 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 101. If you cannot attend a reception, arrange a ​visit via ateliercontakos@gmail.com.

Courtesy of Atelier Contakos.

Arion Press

Demonstrations of the historic printing and bookmaking facilities of Arion Press and the historic typefoundry of M & H Type are held Thursday afternoons at 3:30 p.m. and last approximately an hour and a half. Price: $10. The gallery, featuring a rotating exhibition of Arion’s latest projects, is open free to the public Monday through Friday, from 10-5, or by special appointment.

City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

San Francisco’s City Lights, a literary landmark located at 261 Columbus Avenue, was founded in 1953 by Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin. Find a book, browse their own line of new titles—including a new collection of poems by Julio Cortázar—or try to catch a peek at Ferlinghetti himself.