The National Print Museum of Ireland is delighted to launch the book and exhibition titled Blot’s Most Marvellous Historical Guide to Making Books. The affable George Thomas ‘Blot’ Dickson, an eighteenth-century printer’s apprentice, brings the visitor on a colourful journey, describing the evolution of bookmaking, its processes and its impacts. Dr Angela Griffith of Trinity College Dublin and one of the country’s most exciting illustrators, Jennifer Farley, have brought George’s story to life for young (and not so young) audiences. The creative and symbiotic partnerships between writer, illustrator and printer will be traced in a dynamic way for the reader and the visitor.

Ireland is world-renowned for its incomparable contribution to the history of the book. It begins with magnificent Insular manuscripts from the sixth century, and emerges with the arrival of the first printing press to Ireland in the 1500s. The nineteenth century is marked by an insatiable demand for printed materials as education levels rose, and it sees the rise of the illustrated books. Some of Ireland’s most famous artists, including Jack Butler Yeats and Harry Clarke, worked as illustrators.

Today, despite the ever-expanding ways people can access information through digital platforms, the printed book retains its popularity, and this is particularly true of the illustrated volume.

Read more about the multi-faceted project here.