Disturbing news from the St Bride Printing Library (London)
The St Bride Foundation has just announced that it is no longer able to keep the printing workshop and library open in their current format because of funding constraints. The result of this is that the staff working in those departments have been made redundant. The library has been open on a very reduced scale for several years now.
The ‘Shepherd’s at St Bride’ courses, the Library’s lecture series and the current exhibition ‘St Bride Unveiled’ are not affected, but all those who have already booked for visits to the library or printing workshop will be contacted in the near future.
The Foundation has stated that the other activities that take place within the Foundation, the Bridewell Theatre, the Bridewell Bar and venue hire all remain fully active.
It has also stated that it remains committed to the care and conservation of its collections and that conservation work will continue.
Given the climate of uncertaintly which has surrounded the future development of the St Bride Library in recent years, these announcements can only add to the anxiety felt by the many scholars, typographers and designers worldwide for whom St Bride’s is one of the foremost international resources in the field.