Born in Tennessee in 1940, Barry Moser originally set out to be a Methodist preacher. However, after being accepted into the Theological Seminary at Vanderbilt, he declined and instead moved to New England to become a printmaker, specifically interested in wood engraving and etching. While teaching at the Williston Academy in Easthampton, Massachusetts, he studied printmaking at Baskin’s Gehenna Press. He was so inspired that he convinced the Williston administration to acquire a printing press, where Moser printed his first letterpress in 1969.

That year he began studying printmaking at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has since illustrated or designed over 300 books, winning the National Book Award for design and illustration in 1983 for his edition of Lewis Carroll’s "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland." He is the founder of Pennyroyal Press, through which he has produced many books as well as original artworks.