Printing Historical Society

Peter Schoeffer of Worms - lecture at St Albans Cathedral

Fri, 04 May 2012 19:02:44 +0000

Under the auspices of the St Alban-Worms Partnership there is to be a lecture on Peter Schöffer the younger, printer of Worms, Germany, of Tyndale's New Testament (1526). The lecture will be given by Dr Busso Diekamp, Chief Librarian of the Worms Municipal Library, and will take place in the Lady Chapel of St Albans Cathedral, UK, on Monday 14th May 2012 at 7.30 pm. Entry is by ticket, costing £5. For further information see the events page of the St Alban-Worms Partnership website.

Printroom refurbishment at Kelmscott House

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:33:33 +0000

The William Morris Society UK, which cares for Kelmscott House, are appealing for sponsorship for the restoration and reinterpretation of the printroom and surrounding area. Kelmscott House was the home of William Morris for the final eighteen years of his life, and contains one of just three Albion presses still in existence that were used by Morris in printing the Kelmscott Press books. The current printroom was created in the 1970s as a working printroom and has not been refurbished since then. The Society now wishes to make a number of significant improvements including: restoration of the terrazzo flooring; installation of museum-quality exhibition cases; installation of low-energy lighting; new interpretation and visitor facilities; environmental monitoring. The Society hopes to raise upwards of £50,000 to pay for these improvements.

If you might be interested in contributing to the sponsorship of this work, further information can be obtained by contacting the Curator of Kelmscott House, Helen Elletson, by email, or via the Society's website.

2012 Annual General Meeting

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:39:20 +0000

The 2012 Annual General Meeting will be held at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 16 May at the St Bride Foundation, London.

In addition to the regular formal business, the Annual General Meeting will be asked to vote on a proposal to establish a new Officer post of Publications Secretary, in effect to make the post of chair of the Publications Sub-Committee into an elected post with a three-year term of office.

Following the formal business of the AGM, Michael Twyman will give a talk entitled “Chromolithography: the critical years”.

Printing History News 34

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:55:31 +0000

PHN 34 was issued in March 2012. See the Publications page for further information.

St Bride Library temporary closure (from January 2012)

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:20:00 +0000

Due to the resignation of the Librarian, Nigel Roche, for personal reasons, the St Bride Library is temporarily closed to casual readers. This enforced closure has provided an opportunity for a thorough audit of the Library's collections. The closure will last until this process has been completed and a new Librarian appointed. Those needing to use the Library for current research work may obtain access by appointment only. Further information is available on the St Bride Library website.

APHA 2012 Annual Conference - Call for Papers

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:02:55 +0000

The American Printing History Association welcomes proposals for its 2012 annual conference, whose theme will be ‘At the Crossroads: Living Letterform Traditions’. The conference is at Columbia College Chicago, Center for Book and Paper Arts, 12–13 October 2012. The main proceedings will take place on the Saturday, 13 October. Full details will be available at the website of the American Printing History Association.

Proposals are due by March 15, 2012. For further details see our Other events and announcements page

Order our publications online

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:44:26 +0000

You can now use an online order form to order back-issues of the Society's Journal and other publications that we have in stock. You can, of course, still place orders by contacting our Publications Officer by email. For further information on publications that are available for sale, see our Publications page.

Industry and Genius in the Printing Trade

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:50:00 +0000

The Printing Historical Society and the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design are organising a conference entitled ‘Industry and Genius in the Printing Trade’, to be held on 4–5 September 2012 at the Birmingham School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham. Note that the call for papers is now closed. For further information see the Forthcoming events page.

Grants for 2012

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:41:42 +0000

Applications for grants in 2012 are now closed. Information about any grants to be made available in 2013 will be announced in due course.

Journal new series 17

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:19:49 +0000

The 17th issue of the new series has appeared (January 2012). The last issue to be edited by John Trevitt, who is retiring, this issue contains two articles, a checklist of published writings by Michael Twyman, and reviews of seven books. The articles: Michael Kassler, “Philippe André and the Introduction of Lithography to England”; Pierre Delsaerdt, “Typographic design and renaissance lexicography: Cornelis Kiliaan's dictionaries of the Dutch language”. The checklist is a supplement to one originally published in the Society's Bulletin 45 in 1998. The book reviewers are Catherine Armstrong, Richard Lawrence, David Salisbury and John Trevitt.

Industry and Genius in the Printing Trade

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:12:53 +0000

A conference organised jointly by the Printing Historical Society and the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design

4–5 September 2012, Birmingham School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham B3 3BX

Between the Hall of Memory and Baskerville House in Birmingham stands a sculptural tribute to John Baskerville. On the columns of Portland Stone are reversed bronze letters spelling ‘Virgil’, the Roman poet whose works were printed by Baskerville in 1757 in the famous typeface that bears his name. A poem in praise of the printer appeared in the Aris’s Gazette in 1751, entitled ‘Industry and Genius’ from which the sculpture takes its name.

The contribution made by printers, processes and products to their industry and the wider political and cultural world will be examined in this two day conference organised jointly by the Printing Historical Society and the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.

Call for Papers

The call for papers is now closed.

Dutch Museum of Lithography celebrates 10 years

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:59:37 +0000

The Dutch Museum of Lithography in Valkenswaard celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2011. To celebrate, a book has been published about the museum and about lithography in general, and it is hoped soon to publish on their website some short articles specially written for this book. For a link to their website, and to the websites of other museums of printing around the world, see the Links page.

Past issues of PHN available online

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:19:34 +0000

The Society is beginning to make past issues of Printing History News available for free download in PDF format, starting with the most recent issues. See the Publications page for more information and for links to the online versions.

New Publications Officer

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:50:00 +0000

After many years loyal service Tony Cox has retired from his role as Publications Officer for the Society. We are most grateful to Tony for looking after the storage and sale of the Society's publications.

Our new Publications Officer is Richard Lawrence. Richard is a long-standing member of the Society and a current Committee member, and is also known to many who have attended letterpress printing courses that he presents at St Brides.

Enquiries about purchasing copies of the Society's publications should in future be addressed to publications@printinghistoricalsociety.org.uk.

New Journal: Book 2.0

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:45:28 +0000

Intellect Books are to publish a new journal entitled Book 2.0, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal which aims to provide a forum for promoting and sharing the most original and progressive practice in the teaching of writing, illustration, book design, book production and publishing across all educational sectors. The principal editor is Anthony Harrild of Anglia Ruskin University, UK. A call for articles for Volume 1 Issue 2 has been issued. Articles written to the theme of Type Writing are invited. The topic may be interpreted either in an historical or contemporary context; discussed not only from a technical but also empirical perspective; may be explored either from an applied or theoretical standpoint; and the effects of the digital present can be considered and the unknown future predicated. Potential contributors should send a 200-word abstract to the Guest Editor, Dr Caroline Archer. The deadline for submissions is 30 November 2011.