The National Print Museum

I was asked to cover the opening of a new exhibition and launch of the new layout at the National Print Museum last night. As a printmaking graduate, I’m surprised I’d never heard of the place before. The mechanical nerd in me had a field day. I was practically drooling on the old albion presses, typesets and linotype machines.

It’s great to see all this old printing technology being preserved. There were demonstrations of some of the machines by a group of older men who would have worked with them professionally years ago, when they were essential technology in every newspaper office in the country. You could see them all chatting to each other about their past work and the machines, with pride and nostalgia in their eyes.  I was told there are training courses run there, so the skills are being passed on to another generation of printers. 

Here are a few of the photos from last night:

See www.nationalprintmuseum.ie for more information.