Richard Minsky

In 1960, Minsky obtained his first printing press at the age of 13 to replace the Superior "Cub" rotary Printing Press he had received as a gift in 1957. This Kelsey 5x8" platen press became the foundation for a lifelong career in the book arts.

In 1968, he graduated cum laude in economics from Brooklyn College. Minsky was awarded a fellowship at Brown University, where he received his master's degree in economics. He pursued a Ph.D. at The New School for Social Research, but left after two years to pursue bookbinding, art and music. He studied bookbinding in Providence, Rhode Island with master bookbinder Daniel Gibson Knowlton, whom he met at the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library at Brown University.

In 1974, Minsky founded the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan, the first organization of its kind in the United States dedicated to contemporary interpretations of the book as an art object while preserving traditional practices of the art of the book. In 1978, he was named a US/UK Bicentennial Fellow in Visual Art by the National Endowment for the Arts and the British Council. Minsky stated that he does not believe in talent and that he simply continues to become better at bookbinding through his persistence since his first "awful" attempts in 1968.

In 2004, Yale University Library acquired Minsky's archive of published fine art editions and other works. The Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library at Yale University is hosting an exhibition of 50 years of Minsky's work from August to November 2010.