Join the Norwich Printing Museum for the launch of The Typefounder’s Hand Mould, a new book by Stan Nelson, published by The Legacy Press and Norwich Printing Museum.
The first party will be held at the St Bride Foundation (Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ) on Thursday 2 July 2026, from 6:00 pm (presentations at 7:00 pm typefounding demonstration at 7:30 in the St Bride Library’s Printing Workshop). Drinks and nibbles will be served. Attendees will be able to purchase the book at a special price.
A second event is being held in Norwich, in the Great Hall at the National Centre for Writing (Dragon Hall, 115–123 King Street, Norwich NR1 1QE) on Tuesday 7 July 2026, from 6:00 p.m. (presentation and typefounding demonstration at 7:00 p.m., cash-bar from 6:00 till 8:00 p.m.).
All are welcome. If you would like to come to the St Bride event, RSVP to Paul Nash at the Norwich Printing Museum. If you would like to attend the Norwich event please just turn up and you will be made welcome.
The hand mould was arguably the most important development in the history of western printing. Without it, metal type could not have been cast in quantity, and the development of the printing industry, the printing press and printers’ ink, and later of mechanical typecasting technologies, would not have been possible. R. Stanley (‘Stan’) Nelson – Curator Emeritus of the Division of Graphic Arts at the Smithsonian – has been researching the history of the subject, and making hand moulds himself, for some fifty years. His new monograph represents the fruit of that research, both in an examination of historical moulds, their form, manufacture and use, and in a detailed description of the practical process of making a type-mould and using it to cast type. It is the first such study, and the only detailed work on the subject in the English language.