It's NOT a Small World, After All ~ Introducing the St Brigid Press "Poetry in Translation" Broadside Series

Contrary to the popular maxim, there are ways in which the world is very large, indeed. And there is a LOT of great poetry in it.

The depth and breadth of literature (oral and written) through time and across cultures is astonishing. In honor of the wonderful poetry happening in many ages and places, St Brigid Press has begun a series of letterpress printed broadsides featuring in English the work of poets writing in diverse languages and time-periods. Throughout the coming year, we will be offering limited edition, hand-set prints of poems-in-translation, from 5th century Chinese classics to 21st century Syrian classics-to-be.

Thanks for journeying with us. May these poems enlarge your being and your world, as they have for us!

All best to all,

St Brigid Press

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For more on the art of translation, see the following websites and posts:

Modern Poetry in Translation Magazine

Poetry Translation Centre

Poetry of China (with a section on translation)

Jeff Schwaner on translating from the ancient Chinese

Maggie Duncan on "The Translated World" (and the myriad meanings of "translation")

PEN International: a global community of writers

Poetry International

Everything Falls In Place

We are honored to announce the release of a letterpress printed broadside of Jeff Schwaner's poem "Drop Everything."

A moving meditation on the small moments that make up our lives, and the intimacy of truly knowing another being, "Drop Everything" is a poem of quiet beauty and power. Author of numerous volumes of outstanding poetry, Jeff Schwaner lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

We had the pleasure of setting his poem by hand, letter-by-letter and line-by-line, to manifest its loveliness in metal, ink, paper, and to share it with you. It is composed in Centaur type, a venerable typeface designed in 1914 by Bruce Rogers, and accompanied by accents in its companion italic face Arrighi. The paper is sumptuous "Holyoke," a very thick, cream-white cotton paper. Each broadside in this limited edition of 45 is numbered.

For more information about the poem (including the full text) and its author Jeff Schwaner, click HERE.

To order, click HERE.

With thanks, and all best, St Brigid Press

POST-A-POEMS! Celebrating National Poetry Month

Greetings and Happy Spring, Friends!

Just in time for the start of National Poetry Month on Tuesday, St Brigid Press has created pre-paid postcards featuring three wonderful poems by Emily Dickinson. These cards are hand-set and letterpress printed in lovely colors on our 1909 Golding Pearl treadled press. The back of the USPS-compliant cards have plenty of space for your personalized note, and include the postage stamp.

To order direct, click HERE. If you are in the Waynesboro, Virginia area, pick up these postcards at Stone Soup Books.

Share the gift of poetry this month  ~  POST-A-POEM!

All best to all,

St Brigid Press

SlimGems Handmade Notepads

Made to fit in a shirt pocket, back pocket, purse, or car console, we're affectionately referring to these sweet guys as "SlimGems" ~ perfect wee notepads to carry where e're ye may roam.

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Here at the Press, we've got one started for grocery lists, one for To-Do-This-Week, and one for composing haiku! Handmade from fabulous-feeling, tough, Murillo Italian paper, the covers come in two rich colors ~ gold and deep green. Interior pages are fine-writing bamboo paper, 48 pages in all, hand-sewn with blue or gold linen thread. The final, gorgeous touch for these notebooks is an accent of elegant hand-marbled paper by Susan Hastings. Finished size: 4" x 2". Price: $4.25 each.

Only available direct  ~  order through our secure Online Store!

With thanks, and all best from the Press,

St Brigid Press

Raise Your Glasses, Everyone!

…And see who can find

all 8 classic styles of beer or 8 varietals of wine

hidden in these coasters' word puzzles!

St Brigid being the patron saint of both poets and brewmasters, we here at St Brigid Press enjoy a good pint of porter or glass of cabernet with good friends after the workday is done. In honor of this, we've designed an old-fashioned word puzzle to share over your next round!

These puzzles are one-of-a-kind, designed here by Emily Hancock (a long-time fan of word puzzles) and letterpress printed from hand-set metal type on thick coaster stock. They are durable, reusable, and colorfast. And when the last stain of stout or Merlot has finally obscured the letters, these coasters are fully recyclable and biodegradable.

$12 per set-of-6. Order direct from St Brigid Press HERE. Or if you are in the Waynesboro, Virginia, area, pick these up at Stone Soup Books. (And for a list of the hidden beer styles and wine varietals, click HERE ~ don't peek!!!).

CHEERS, Friends!

St Brigid Press

Letterpress Coaster Classics ~ Holiday Cheer

Here's a little extra sunshine to lighten these dark winter days ~ beautiful solstice coasters!

In an old cabinet of type we acquired last year, we discovered this vintage metal printing block with its lovely, radiating sun image.

Letterpress printed here in the Shop on extra-thick coaster stock, the coasters are durable, reusable, and colorfast. Fully recyclable and biodegradable. $11.95 per set of six (6) coasters. To order, click HERE.

All the best,

St Brigid Press

Printing the Winter Sky

Greetings All,

As the late-Autumn days roll into quickening, deepening darkness, Summer stars set and the constellations of Winter begin to rise. Our old friend, Orion, is now climbing above the hill to the east, beginning his hunting season.

A lifelong love of stargazing, combined with the creative crisp of these clear cold nights, has inspired a new series of block prints here at St Brigid Press. The first is a carving of the constellation Orion rising in lunar light ~ "Hunter's Moon."

Handcarved by Emily Hancock into a linoleum block, "Hunter's Moon" is printed with night-blue ink on the Poco Proofing Press in limited edition. Each print is signed, numbered, and double-matted (finished, framable size is 8"x10"). To order, please see our Online Store.

With thanks, and keep an eye to the sky!

St Brigid Press

Winter Notecards

Greetings All,

Inspired by the Blue Ridge Mountains that surround us and the deep starry skies that glisten above us, we are glad to offer our new series of greeting cards for the winter season: "Peace Be."

Originally commissioned by Blue Ridge Life Magazine, these cards were designed and letterpress printed in our shop from vintage wood type, metal type, and a hand-carved linoleum block. Cardstock is thick, 110lb, 100% cotton paper, in Pearl White with matching envelopes. Printed in rich blue ink on the 1914 Chandler and Price foot-powered press.

Limited edition. $4 each, or $12 per set-of-four.

Only available online, order direct from our STORE.

Autumn blessings,

St Brigid Press

Coaster Contemplations

Hello dear Friends,

As the first real chilly weather arrives outside, we're workin' up a sweat inside the Shop ~ treadling our 1914 Chandler and Price printing press to bring you some contemplative coasters to slip under your glass of holiday cheer!

Poet Jeff Schwaner, author of three collections of poetry, has written a wonderful sequence of eight linked haiku entitled "Night Walk on Cape Cod." Originally published in his book, Vanishing Tracks, Schwaner recently approached St Brigid Press with the notion of letterpress printing the haiku as a set of coasters. Needless to say, we thought the idea brilliant, and set to work composing the lovely poems in metal type. Here's a taste of the depth and elegiac beauty of Schwaner's work:

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Write about home she

said ~ many journeys later

I write about her

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Every walk

Is a walk with a stranger

Identity's tides

~

Each haiku, a thoughtful little cosmos in itself, is thematically and emotionally linked with its seven companions, telling the heart's story of home, memory, and connection-through-time. All of which are fine musings to mull over a glass of wine, tea, hot chocolate, or spiced rum, and which are -- like a cup of coffee -- good to the last drop.

Each set of 8 haiku coasters (one for each poem) were designed, hand-set, and letterpress printed here in the Shop on extra-thick coaster stock. The coasters are durable, reusable, colorfast, and, when the final red wine stain at last obscures the poetry, fully recyclable and biodegradable. The top side, with haiku, are printed in dark green; the bottom side, with title, sequence number, author and printer names, is printed in deep blue. Limited edition. $16 per set-of-eight coasters.

To order from the St Brigid Press Store, click HERE.

Many thanks to Jeff Schwaner for a fun and meaningful collaboration. And all the best to each of you for a peaceful week,

St Brigid Press

Here's a video of the printing of the coasters, plus more photos of the process and the product:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoZJW2clO_E]

Handmade Bulfinch Journals

Greetings All!

We have the First Fire of the season burning brightly in the wood stove today. Autumn's damp chill at bay, we're excited to unveil the newest member of the St Brigid Press family of blank books: the Bulfinch Journal.

Midway in size between the larger Commonplace Books and the smaller PocketNotes, these 5" X 3.5" journals fit comfortably in the hand and in the handbag. About 90 interior pages are Mohawk Superfine text-weight paper, in warm cream and acid-free. The sturdy covers are Fabriano's wonderful Murillo paper (also acid-free), with a tactile wove surface and rich color (available in mustard and in deep green). The journals are hand sewn with linen thread of various earth-tones, in a lovely stitch pattern that decorates the spine.

Each cover is blind-stamped with a beautiful "open-book" ornament called Bulfinch. This ornament was originally part of a typeface of the same name designed in 1903 by William Johnson for the Ladies Home Journal. The back cover features our Press signature, letterpress printed in forest-green ink.

To order, please see our online Store, here. For more information, contact us at stbrigidpress@gmail.com. Those of you in the Waynesboro, Virginia, area can purchase these from Stone Soup Books. The journals are $12.95 each.

Thanks so much, and all best to all,

St Brigid Press