Editioning the Moseley Dovecote Prints

Today I found some time to trim and edition 20 prints from each of the 4 designs I printed at BCU Parkside the other day. I put them in some plastic sleeves from Hobbycraft so the folks at the Dovecote can sell them when they are open to the public. I hope they raise some funds for the upkeep of the gardens.

Letterpress at BCU Parkside

I spent the day at BCU's Parkside campus where the letterpress collection is kept. I wanted to combine my latest wood engravings with some simple typography. I decided to produce a small edition of each print that could potentially be sold at Moseley Dovecote to raise some funds for the garden. I used 24 point Baskerville, a typeface designed by Birmingham master printer John Baskerville in 1757. I felt this would be appropriate for the 18th century Dovecote.

Winterbourne House

I have made several visits to Winterbourne House in the last few weeks. Only a few minutes walk from the Barber Institute, this lovely Arts and Crafts House is a hidden gem. The house was built by John and Margaret Nettlefold. He was one of the founders of GKN and she was a Chamberlain (niece of Joseph) having grown up at Highbury Hall. The house was built in 1904 and designed by JL Ball to be a bright, comfortable family home. The sensitive restoration manages to keep the original spirit of the house whilst being informative about both the former occupants and the times in which they lived. I was particularly taken with the carvings on the wooden furniture and the plasterwork details.

 

I was interested to see a book on display that had been produced by William Morris' Kelmscott Press. It appeared to be The Works of Chaucer. This was the epitome of the Arts and Crafts ethos.

Margaret designed the gardens and was influenced by the work of Gertrude Jekyll. In 1944 the house was given to Birmingham University and the garden is still used for botanic study.

There are several small glasshouses with collections of cacti and tropical plants.

In one of the out buildings there was a small print room. The presses and type belonged to the University and had been moved over to Winterbourne. It is run by volunteers.

'The Improper Book'

Following on from 'The Proper Book' course that I attended last Autumn at Hot Bed Press, this weekend I went up to Manchester again to learn more about bookmaking techniques. 'The Improper Book' was run by Elizabeth Willow and we made several more unusual book forms.

A beak book is a very simply book form that is made from one sheet of paper.

A Trouser Book is another simply one sheet book but this time with a pamphlet stitched cover.

 A concertina or accordion book is a very adaptable book that can be made any length. It can be folded or opened out and displayed.

The most complex book we made was a triple accordion star or carousel book.