St Bride Library (formerly known as St Bride Printing Library and St Bride Typographical Library) is a library in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

primarily devoted to

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

, book arts,

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

and

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

. The library is housed in the St Bride Foundation Institute in Bride Lane, London EC4, a small street leading south of

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

near its intersection with New Bridge Street, in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. It is centrally located in the area traditionally synonymous with the British Press and once home to many of London's newspaper publishing houses. The Library is named after the nearby church,

St Bride's Church St Bride's Church is a Church of England church in Fleet Street in the City of London. Likely dedicated to Bridget of Kildare, Saint Bridget perhaps as early as the 6th century, the building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christo ...

, the so-called "Cathedral of Fleet Street". The Bridewell Theatre is the theatre attached to the Foundation. St Bride Library opened on 20 November 1895 as a technical library for the printing school and printing trades. The library remained, as the school relocated in 1922 to become what is now known as the

London College of Communication The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. Its origins are in education for the printing and retail industries; it now specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation ...

.'St Bride Foundation: A hidden gem off Fleet Street'
Living London History blog (accessed 5/9/2024). The library's collection has grown to incorporate a vast amount of printing-related material numbering about 65,000 books and pamphlets, in addition to back issues of some 3,600 serial publications and numerous artefacts.Library
St Bride Foundation website (accessed 5/9/2024). Among its extensive collection the library houses: an

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as "the greatest artist-craftsma ...

collection, a William Addison Dwiggins collection, a

Beatrice Warde Beatrice Lamberton Warde (September 20, 1900 – September 16, 1969, née Beatrice Becker) was a twentieth-century writer and scholar of typography. As a marketing manager for the British Monotype Corporation, she was influential in the deve ...

collection, types of the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, and punches of the

Caslon Caslon is the name given to serif typefaces designed by William Caslon, William Caslon I in London, or inspired by his work. Caslon worked as an Engraving, engraver of Punchcutting, punches, the masters used to stamp the moulds or Matrix (printi ...

and Figgins foundries. Much of the non-book material was acquired by long-serving librarian

James Mosley James Mosley (born 1935) is a retired librarian and historian whose work has specialised in the history of printing and letter design. The main part of Mosley's career has been 42 years as Librarian of the St Bride Printing Library in London, whe ...

between 1956 and 2000. No charge is made for access to the reading room but a fee of £1 per item is levied for titles retrieved from closed access storage. The limited Reading Room study space means that potential visitors must email the library in advance of their visit to ensure that they may be accommodated on open days. A rolling programme of talks, events and exhibitions runs throughout the year, with the exception of high summer, with most lectures taking place in the Bridewell Hall but also via live online Zoom presentations. Funds raised through these functions are used to support the ongoing work of the library and letterpress printing workshop. Details of current events may be found a
Events Archive
A Wayzgoose (traditional printers' fair) is held in late May each year to raise funds for the library. The 2023 event took place on Sunday 21st May between 11am and 4pm. Around 30 traders offered private press books, letterpress-printed ephemera, new and second-hand printing type, paper, card and printing bric-a-brac. Refreshments are available throughout the day at each Wayzgoose.

References

External links

*
St Bride Foundation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bride Library Libraries in the City of London Printing museums in England Typography 1895 establishments in England Grade II listed buildings in the City of London Printing in England

See also

References

External links