A Bristolian from Redland has embarked on a round-Britain trip on his ‘printing bike’, visiting and supporting public libraries along the way.
Nick Hand is a typographer and letterpress printer. Letterpress is the form of printing using wood or lead type that Gutenberg invented in Germany in 1450.
Nick has made many journeys (including one from Bristol to Mainz, where Gutenberg lived and worked) on a bicycle with a small printing press on the back. The printing bike is a bespoke bicycle made for Nick by bike maker, Robin Mather. It carries a letterpress Adana press, inks, type and blocks; everything required to print a small print run at each stop along the journey.
Press On is an adventure that will take the printing bike from library to library across Britain printing bookmarks along the way. Each bookmark design will be inspired by the words and images of writers and artists in support of public libraries. It is taking place over this summer and will take Nick as far as the Shetlands.
His first stops were due to take him to some favourite Bristol libraries including Redland and Henleaze, where Nick regularly takes his three-year-old grandson Harry on Wednesdays.
Libraries have been under enormous pressure over recent years because of cutbacks and rely on local support. Nick aims to contribute to the work these communities do by visiting as many libraries as possible and working with artists and writers to produce a limited run of unique bookmarks for each library, all printed in situ at the library itself.
The project, funded by crowdfunding, includes specific letterpress-printed items, as well as two beautiful books. Paul Peter Piech’s Ugly Pieces of Metal and Alan Bennett’s book about the libraries in his life. Find out more on Nick’s website www.departmentofsmallworks.co.uk/