Dublin - National Print Museum
On a recent trip to Dublin, I had to drop into the National Print Museum to see their fantastic collection of presses, type and assorted printing goodness! Housed in the old garrison chapel of the Beggars Bush barracks, it has been running since 1996 and is a living museum both preserving the history of printing in Ireland and educating via workshops, events and exhibitions.
They have some truly amazing presses in their care, including a working Ludlow Typecaster and Linotype Model 78, plus a good selection of matrices. They also have a replica Gutenberg Press, a honking great Wharfedale Stop Cylinder Press, a Titan Glockner, Columbia, Albions, Vandercook, Peerless and countless other presses and assorted printing equipment.
The staff were kind enough to let me rummage around with type cases and photograph some of their gorgeous woodblock, ornamental type and Gaelic type too.
Lastly they have an original print of the 1916 Proclamation, plus a proofed copy that shows the printer’s sneaky fixes to get around not having enough sorts after having a large amount of type confiscated by the British army!
Well worth a visit for print-nerds (and non-nerds alike!) plus they also run an amazing array of workshops, events, tours and exhibitions throughout the year.
