The Vancouver-based Alcuin Society promotes printing as a fine art and celebrates book design work in Canada. It was co-founded by Basil Stuart-Stubbs, Bill Duthie, Sam Black, Bill McConnell, Dale Smith, Sam Fogel and Wil Hudson--inspired by Geoff Spencer's idea. It takes its name from Charlemagne's unofficial 'minister of culture', Alcuin of York (735-804), who selected the most legible script of his times, known as Caroline Miniscule. This led to the standardization of our modern lower-case alphabet. The Society sponsors national awards for book design, generally favouring refined and subtle work over book jackets that are commercially viable--much to the dismay of some. The Alcuin Society also publishes a quarterly newsletter Amphora that appears in March, June, September and December.