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Emily Hancock

In Conversation With Emily

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In Conversation With Emily

This Spring I was delighted to be interviewed by the amazing Nicole Arnett Phillips of Typograph.her. Nicole is a designer, typographer, printer, and publisher based in New Zealand, and curates an indispensable monthly newsletter of “typographic musings.” Read our conversation about craft, creativity, and printing history: https://www.typographher.com/blog/2020/4/24/in-conversation-with-emily-hancock

“It is a uniquely intimate, valuable thing to hand-set poetry in metal type, letter-by-letter and space-by-space, to touch every textured page as my foot treadles the 125-year-old press, to sew every stitch tight, and then hand that book to someone who may be enlivened by it.”
— Emily Hancock
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Women in Literature: Past, Present, & Future

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Women in Literature: Past, Present, & Future

Last week, I had the great pleasure of being a guest in a Women in Literature class at Northern Virginia Community College (Woodbridge). Professor Indigo Eriksen, a fabulous poet and teacher whom I had met some years ago at a poetry festival, invited me to show her students a simple sewn binding technique that they could use for their end-of-term chapbook projects.

"Women in Literature" students hand-sewing their first notebooks.

"Women in Literature" students hand-sewing their first notebooks.

That initial intent blossomed into spending an hour and a half with her wonderful class, sharing about the history of women in printing and publishing, sewing a couple of notebooks together, and letterpress printing a keepsake on an old traveling press. Later that afternoon, I gathered with about twenty other students in the campus auditorium to talk about poetry, writing, language, and to read a bit from my own work in The Open Gate: New & Selected Poems. 

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I was incredibly moved and invigorated by the engagement of these young women in the class, and the women & men at the reading. They were so present, interested and interesting, bright, and energized. They asked thoughtful, insightful questions, and deepened my own curiosity and understanding about language and literature. The students in the class took to sewing like ducks to water, and they are now part of the great lineage of women who have made a book! I am honored to have crossed paths with them all, and look forward to seeing their creative lives unfold. 

Here's a video of a happy printer ~ Janae printing her first letterpress piece on the 1930 Kelsey 3x5 press!

Here are a few photos from our conversation later that afternoon about poetry, writing, and publishing:

Here are a few slides from what I shared with the students about the history of women in printing and publishing. It's a long and vibrant history, one that they are now a part of!

Many, many thanks to Professor Indigo Eriksen, the fantastic students at Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge, and Deans David Epstein & Michael Turner for inviting me to spend a wonderful afternoon with them!

All best wishes to all, 

Emily Hancock

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Walking into Winter

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Walking into Winter

One of the greatest gifts my parents and grandparents gave to me as a girl was the gift of walking. Of taking strolls along sandy roads at dusk, watching bats and stars appear. And hours-long rambles through rolling fields and woodlands—ears tuned to the drum of woodpeckers, eyes following threads of light among stands of hardwoods or pine. These walks wove the senses, and patterned the language that would eventually make poems from such experience. 

One of these poems is “Walking into Winter.” Included in my forthcoming book, The Open Gate: New & Selected Poems, it seemed a fitting piece to also offer to you all now, as the late November days begin to darken early and the last wild seeds are being cast to the wind. It’s a time of letting go, and of gathering in. 

Below, you can read “Walking into Winter,” listen to an audio clip as I read the poem aloud, and watch a brief movie of butterfly-weed pods opening in our field. As we journey into this winter season, may we each carry light and warmth within, tending the seeds that will sprout again come spring.

Listen as the author reads her poem:

Watch butterfly weed seeds in the breezy field at St Brigid Press. This native species of milkweed is slowly expanding on our land, providing food for insects.

If  you are in the area, please join us for the official book launch this coming Sunday, December 3rd, at 2pm, at Black Swan Books (Staunton, Va.). We'll have light refreshments, read some poems, and celebrate together.

If you can't attend, you may pre-order the book on our website here: 

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The Preface from "A Handbook for Creative Protest"

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The Preface from "A Handbook for Creative Protest"

Listen to author Emily Hancock read the Preface from our newest publication:

A Handbook for Creative Protest: Thoreau, Gandhi, & King in Conversation

For more information about the book, please see our post Here.

To pre-order a copy ($22), please email us ~ info@stbrigidpress.net

Join us on Sunday, July 23rd, at 2pm at Black Swan Books in Staunton for the official launch! Emily will be reading from and signing copies of the Handbook.

 

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Old Poems, New Forms

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Old Poems, New Forms

During some Spring Cleaning at the Press a few weeks ago, I rediscovered a sweet small project that had somehow gotten buried by other works-in-progress. 

“Overnight on Abiding-Integrity River”

an unfolding poem

Ancient Chinese poetry has long been an enjoyment of mine, particularly poems translated by David Hinton. And a favorite author that Hinton translates beautifully is the early T’ang Dynasty poet Meng Hao-jan (689-740 C.E.).

One of Meng’s crystalline four-line poems struck me as a lovely candidate for a miniature book. At 2-inches square and a half-inch thick, this unfolding journey is small in size but large in scope. Meng’s linked, sensory lines seemed to naturally suit themselves to a linked, tactile format.

I set the poem in metal type, printed it on my trusty foot-treadled Golding press, and cut-and-assembled the paper pieces by hand to form the book. It’s a very limited edition — just 21 books. $15 each.

If you'd like a little ancient new book of poetry, click here.

Many thanks,

St Brigid Press

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Thoreau and Friends

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Thoreau and Friends

Hi dear Friends of the Press,

As the temperatures rise on this eve of the Summer solstice, we are rocketing along with new work here at St Brigid Press. Thanks for taking a moment to hear about it!

Recently we turned our attention to a new book honoring someone with a Very Big Birthday coming up in July ~ Henry David Thoreau turns 200 on the 12th! 

Thoreau's birthplace, the Wheeler Minot Farmhouse in Concord, MA. Photo credit: John Phelan

Thoreau's birthplace, the Wheeler Minot Farmhouse in Concord, MA. Photo credit: John Phelan

What began as a small commemorative project has since evolved into a multi-faceted book. As Emily’s research into Thoreau’s life and writings progressed and as local, national, and international news unfolded, we began to see a strong connection between Thoreau’s work and that of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., and began to feel the timely resonance of all three men today. 

Turns out, Thoreau’s famous essay “Civil Disobedience” had a profound influence on both Gandhi and King. In different times, places, and circumstances, each man developed a philosophy and a practice of nonviolent resistance to injustice. Those ideas and their implementation lead to powerful individual and societal change, and are as relevant today as in the 19th and 20th centuries.

So, we’d like to introduce the new publication due out soon:

A Handbook for Creative Protest: Thoreau, Gandhi, & King in Conversation

The Handbook will present selected excerpts by each author, along with a Preface and commentary by Emily Hancock.

At about 35 pages, it proved a bit too large for us to accomplish at this time via hand-set metal type, so we decided on a unique and flexible “hybrid” design: The interior pages have been digitally typeset and designed by Emily and will be printed offset at a local shop; Emily will then letterpress print the covers and hand-sew the book here at the Press. This hybrid design lets us allow the full text to be what it needs to be, and yet still incorporates signature elements of the handmade book that are important to us and to you. 

Our fingers are crossed for a late-July release. Stay tuned!

If you would like to put your name on the pre-order list, please email Emily at stbrigidpress@gmail.com 

Many thanks, and all the best,

St Brigid Press

“Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary.”
— Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"

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Loving Letters

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Loving Letters

Hi Friends of the Press, and a very Happy Feast-Day of St Brigid to you all! We are most glad to celebrate this day with the launch of our latest book ~

Love Letters: An Abecedarium of Type Designs by Frederic W. Goudy

This project all began with the simple love of letters ~ letters beautifully designed, cast, printed, and shared. 

One of the most gifted and prolific type designers in American history, Frederic Goudy began his life’s work at his Village Press in Park Ridge, Illinois in 1903. Beginning in the 1890s and continuing until his death in 1947, he designed well over 100 typefaces, many of which are still in use today in both metal and digital formats. 

At St Brigid Press, we are honored to care for and print with a couple of rarer metal castings of Goudy’s designs. This book presents the gorgeous 60-point Cloister Initials and the elegant Friar in the form of an abecedarium, or “a-b-c book” ~ the large Initial letters are accompanied on each page by the name of another of Goudy’s typefaces, printed here in his Friar. The book was designed, handset in metal type, and printed on the circa-1915 iron handpress here at the Press by Emily Hancock.

If you want to see more of the process on printing a page of this book, please see our previous post, “Diary of a Printed Page.”

Steve Matteson, Creative Director at Monotype and historian of Frederic Goudy and his type designs.

Steve Matteson, Creative Director at Monotype and historian of Frederic Goudy and his type designs.

Frederic Goudy energized a new generation of type designers with his beautiful, time-tested work. One of those designers who takes inspiration from Goudy is Steve Matteson. Steve is one of the finest digital type designers in the world, serving currently as Creative Type Director at the legendary Monotype Corporation. His roots are in metal and cast iron, though — he and I met in the Fall of 2015, at the American Printing History Association’s conference celebrating the iron handpress, held at the Rochester Institute of Technology where Steve first studied typography. 

From the Droid font family to digital revivals of Goudy’s own types like Bertham Pro and Friar Pro, Matteson has a brilliant sense of lettering and typography. And history, too — we were thrilled when Steve agreed to write an introduction for Love Letters. In a few paragraphs, he manages to introduce us to Goudy the late-19th/early-20th century craftsman, and to bring the beauty of Goudy’s art and heart forward into our present age. 

We love letters. And Frederic Goudy's are some of the most beautiful ever designed. May they spark joy in you as well!

  • Edition of 45 numbered books.
  • 6 x 4 inches (closed)
  • Interior papers are Rives Lightweight mouldmade paper (cream), with accents of French Paper Company’s Parchtone Natural.
  • Covers are Chestnut-Pinto Lokta, handmade in Nepal.
  • Sewn side-bound with linen thread.
  • Preface by Emily Hancock.
  • Introduction by Steve Matteson.
  • Goudy Old Style type for the text was specially cast for this printing by Patrick Reagh in Sebastopol, California.

TO ORDER, please continue to our secure check-out HERE.

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News from St Brigid Press!

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News from St Brigid Press!

Greetings from the blustery Blue Ridge Mountains!

Though the warm sun is drizzled all over us today like honey, the empty trees and biting breeze signal winter’s steady approach, here in the Rockfish River Valley. At St Brigid Press, we’re also moving into a new season of work, hunkering down with several longer chapbook projects and a new series of prints. 

Speaking of books, we are thrilled to announce that Emily Hancock’s collection of haiku & carvings, Soundings, recently won a prestigious award at the Oxford Fine Press Book Fair in England. This volume, letterpress printed and hand-bound here at the Press, took home the Oxford Guild of Printers’ 2015 Prize for Best Fine Press Book under £50. 

We are very honored to receive this award. Hopefully some day we can travel to Oxford in person to attend this yearly gathering of fine printers and bookbinders — the oldest fair of its kind in the world.

Created in a limited edition of just 85 books, Soundings is nearly sold out. If you are interested in reserving a copy, please let us know. For more information and photographs, click HERE.

Our current stock of holiday cards and gift tags is likewise dwindling. See available items HERE.

In the meantime, peace and pace to you all!

With thanks,

St Brigid Press 

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A Garden in Winter...

Winter Garden in tree

"Always maintain a kind of Summer, even in the middle of Winter."

~ Henry David Thoreau

Poet, professor, and gardener Stan Galloway takes Thoreau's sentiments to heart in his beautiful poem, "Winter Garden," which is just out now as a limited edition letterpress broadside from St Brigid Press. Savor these selected lines:

clouds purple where dusk and storm meet                                       glazed December snow pellets

I take the box from under the stairs                                               partial packets of last year's seeds

without a shovel or a line of string                                           start to garden, finger each envelope...

Galloway goes on to describe different kinds of seeds in this poem-dream, which inspired the Press' Emily Hancock to conjure them from carved blocks, then illumine them by hand-watercoloring each one.

Hand carving the poem's seeds in a linoleum block.

Bringing the seeds to life with watercolors.

The result is a lovely collaboration of word and image. Hancock hand-set the poem, letter by letter, in the historic Koch-Antiqua typeface, then printed poem and carving in dark grey ink on fawn-colored Stonehenge paper.

Last weekend, we were thrilled to be a part of the Bridgewater International Poetry Festival. Galloway, the festival's organizer, debuted the poem and broadside to the gathered on the first evening.

Dr. Stan Galloway, reading "Winter Garden" at the Bridgewater International Poetry Festival (1/15/15).

Each print, one of a limited edition of 80, is hand-numbered, double-matted with archival mats, backed with archival board, and safely encased in a clear archival bag. To read the poem in its entirety, scroll to the bottom of this page. To order, visit our secure online Store.

Warm your winter days with a print of Galloway's poem; let it dream you toward the light, the rising life, of spring.

All best to all,

St Brigid Press

Hand-setting "Winter Garden," letter by letter and space by space.

The poem emerges from the hand-cranked printing press, one sheet at a time.

Just in time for the poem's debut, a little snow fell!

THE POEM:

The poem in its entirety.

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