Kitty Maryatt, director of the Scripps College Press, will speak on the art of bookmaking and lead a tour of the Scripps College Press on Wednesday, April 13 at 2 p.m. in the Lang Art Gallery at Scripps College, 1030 Columbia Ave. The lecture and tea, hosted by the fine arts foundation, is free and open to the public.

Ms. Maryatt has overseen the press since 1986, the longest directorship in the college’s history. A graduate of Scripps College, Ms. Maryatt has had a lifelong interest in art and design, studying calligraphy, bookbinding and printing in her spare time, earning her master of fine arts degree from UCLA.

 Ms. Maryatt will soon retire after 30 years, just as the Press celebrates its 75th anniversary. When the press was in financial straits, Ms. Maryatt engaged students in an ambitious program collaboratively printing and binding a book each semester, to be sold in limited edition as a way to boost the visibility of the press. Many are now in the collections of prestigious institutions.

Ms. Maryatt admires the publications her students have produced for various reasons—some because of how well the class worked together, some because of the content, and one of historical significance that used a typeface based on Gutenberg’s, which disappeared from use soon after the printing of the Gutenberg Bible. For information, visit www.scrippscollege.edu/scrippspress.