Gallery – Sláinte: Hand Printed Folk Lyric Books

Sláinte - A Hand Printed and Hand Bound Book of Traditional British Folk Songs created using Metal Moveable Type and Stereotype Plates/Cliché Plates - Metal Moveable Type Design for Raggle Taggle Gypsy - Bookmaking by Imogen Smid and Anouk Essers

Sláinte A Book of Traditional Sláinte - A Hand Printed and Hand Bound Book of Traditional British Folk Songs created using Metal Moveable Type and Stereotype Plates/Cliché Plates - Lord of the Dance Page - Bookmaking by Imogen Smid and Anouk Essers

Sláinte: Hand Printed Folk Lyric Book

2011-2013, Hand Bound Books, Printed with Metal Moveable Type (letterpress) and Stereotype Plates on Paper and Card

These hand printed books were a collaborative project between illustrator Anouk Essers and myself.

We designed, illustrated, hand printed and hand bound these books and were assisted by printing specialist John van Peer at AKV | St Joost Academie in Breda, the Netherlands. The project took three years to complete.

Being rather passionate about Traditional Folk Music and Bookmaking, we decided to combine these two interests in this little collector’s item, for people who share either (or both) of these interests with us.

The book includes 23 pages of Traditional Folk Lyrics and 30 pages of illustrations. Eight of the text pages were printed with Metal Moveable Type and the other 15 text pages and the 30 Illustration pages were printed with Stereotype plates. We have printed the book in two different editions: a Limited Edition of 60 books on brown textured paper and an Extra Special Edition of 30 books on thick semi-transparent yellow-ochre paper. All 90 books were hand printed and hand bound!

The photos above show the books, history cards, cover art prints, stereoplates and metal moveable type settings.

The book is approx. 12.5cm x 18.6cm x 1cm

The Limited Edition includes a History Card which describes the project. Click here to see the listing where you can purchase the Limited Edition.

The Extra Special Edition includes the History Card and a print of the Cover Artwork. Click here to see the listing where you can purchase the Extra Special Edition.