LivCom Visit to St Bride Foundation - 21 March 2024
Thursday, 21 March 2024
Not Known
Tickets: £25
Duration: 2 hour tour
Meeting Time and Address: 10.50am for a prompt start at 11.00am. Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London.
St Bride Library houses one of the world's most remarkable and irreplacable collections encapsulating the history of print, typography and design. They exist to tell the story of print, providing creating inspiration for the communities of designers, researchers, printers and the public who bring life to their building and library collections.
In the library, you will find a treasure trove of books, archive and all manner of printed material, as well as the physical objects of printing and type found. They are also home to one of the largest and most significant collections of type specimens.
On the tour, you will explore their historical reading room where the resident expert will show you some of the treasures of our library collection, whether papyrus dating back to 1200BC, works printed by Caxton in the 15th century, or original artwork for typefaces by the likes of Edward Johnston and British road sign models by Margaret Calvert & Jock Kinneir.
Formally a gymnasium, the Print Workshop was opened in 2010 to give visitors the opportunity to experience printing hands-on, to learn traditional printing techniques using items from the Foundation's collections. The space houses a number of historic printing presses from the 18th to 20th century, wood letter and equipment used by compositors to typeset print.
Following the tour, there will be an optional lunch at the Punch Tavern which will be at your own cost.