Saturday, April 18, 2015

From hence poetic fancy learn'd


today's title is filch'd from the type set in the picture above, as the photo also is filch'd, from the website of The Salvage Press of Jamie Murphy, in Dublin, Ireland - I recommend too his tumblr site - there's a lot to see, so when you go into either site, have a few minutes up your sleeve - Jamie Murphy himself seems to roll up a lot of sleeves here & there, including setting the above type, a page from a poem by Jonathan Swift, and curating an exhibition at The National Print Museum in Dublin, titl'd Exquisite Editions, where "25 outstanding books from some of the world's leading fine press printers" has today concluded, having run from March 4 to April 18 - while it's gratifying that I have been included in the "25", it's great to see Tara MacLeod & his Pear Tree Press in New Zealand also in the mix, as part of the recent inclusion of antipodean printers in the overall international scene - a short selection from the other exhibitors includes Barbarian Press, Editions Koch, Greenboathouse Press, Heavenly Monkey, Midnight Paper Sales, Russell Maret, The Lone Oak Press, Incline Press, The Old School Press, & Jamie Murphy's own The Salvage Press - Jamie describes his press activities as 'nomadic', by which he seems to mean that he moves from one printery to another, making books and establishing projects as he goes - it's not quite the same as early itinerant printers who'd cart a printing press around from one town to another, print a few things for the local people, then move on to the next town - but Jamie's enterprise must be unique, tho it would be interesting to see if there are other examples - but, check him out, it's a fine thing he's got going, with high standards of text & production