Over the weekend I went for a Time Out & National Trust tour of the St Bride Foundation building with some friends of mine. We were given a quick history of the building and saw some of its treasured books such as the Kelmscott Chaucer, a beautifully-printed version of the Canterbury Tales illustrated by Edward Burne-Jones and designed by William Morris. They also have a first-edition copy of Samuel Johnson's dictionary which must be worth a few quid.
The real highlight of the afternoon though was a talk on letterpress and printing in general down in their workshop. Surrounded by presses and cases full of lead type we were given a great potted history by a volunteer called Ben (I think?) who was hugely enthusiastic and knowledgeable on the subject. They run a whole series of print workshops there which look like they would be great fun and well worth a look. Bizarrely we then finished up in the old bath house which is now the Bridewell Theatre.
It was really nice to visit somewhere a bit different on a dull Sunday afternoon and get to have a proper nose around the building. I'm pretty geeky about type and print in general so I was easily pleased, but I can definitely recommend a visit if you get the chance.
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