Thursday, July 07, 2016

Saint Brigid Press





Well, you can see why this item caught my eye. Apart from the name, unexplained on the website, I see nothing directly referring to Brigit. BUT, I can easily see the associations.

Saint Brigit's monastery was said to have produced fine books; a not uncommon feature of Irish monasteries was the scriptorium. The goddess Brigit was said to be patron of poets, and although they were not then scribbling down their words, we scribble as much as possible now. What finer way to present words than in finely crafted books and broadsheets?

Saint Brigid Press creates these the old-fashioned way. No, not by quill and squinting, but by setting gorgeous typefaces on gorgeous paper and then gluing and sewing and making splendid.


In their own words:

St Brigid Press is a letterpress print shop in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia. Emily Hancock is proprietor and printer.
We are dedicated to learning, practicing, and passing-on the art and craft of letterpress printing with hand-set type, hand-carved illustrations, foot-powered presses, and hand-sewn books...

Working with language on an intimate level, from the first ephemeral thoughts of a poem, to the physical sculpture of the letters themselves —
all collaborating to render beauty from experience to expression.”

— Emily Hancock




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