So onto a northern English stage of Press On.
I’m headed first to Chetham’s Library in Manchester, it is the oldest public library in Britain. being in continuous use for 350 years. It is also the place where Marx and Engels met in the Summer of 1845 and wrote part of what would become The Communist Manifesto. And as it happens I’m staying with a friend whose mum was the first woman to be on the committee of Communist Party of Britain. The amazing wood engraver, Jane Randfield has cut a beautiful wood engraving to celebrate the Chetham’s link with Marx and Engels and I’ll be printing bookmarks at the library on Thursday 19 September.
When I was at school in Stafford in the early 1970s, I used to wander up the road to visit the record library. It was here that I first borrowed Woody Guthrie records and heard the great man sing. So my good friend, Jeb Loy Nichols has cut a lovely lino of Woody and I think I’ll find a little spot somewhere in Manchester on Friday (maybe outside the Central Library) and print my debt of gratitude bookmark for Woody (and Jeb). It has on it the oft missed verse of This Land (the one about the No Trespassing sign). Anyhow I’ll report back and let you know how it goes.
Then I’m on the bike and headed over the Peaks to visit my friend Tomo, and we’re going to print a bookmark dedicated to the countryside campaigner Ethel Haythornthwaite. My friend,Gemma Trickey has made a wonderful linocut of Ethel and I’m very excited to print if at the Broomhill Community Library in Sheffield on Monday. I’m going to sell some bookmarks (usually people print their own at no charge), but the money will go to the Peaks Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) which Ethel helped set up in the 1920s and 30s.
Then back home to plan for the Scottish leg of the bookmark printing adventure.
From the first libraries that I’ve been to which are between Bristol and London, I’ve made this list of observations about visiting libraries so far:
They are a place of safety and security.
They are welcoming places.
They have a broad offer, including computers, books (obvs), book groups, meeting places, places of learning, talks, music, and poetry readings, community hubs.
They are warm places in the winter (with sofas).
You can nowadays take 20-30 books out at a time (though remember to take the wheelbarrow).
I’ve met and talked to librarians, volunteers and library users about their relationships with their library.
I’ve met lots of old friends and new friends who have put me up and fed me.
The Chilterns are nice to cycle through.
Luton is tricky and has a massive hill that I’d recommend not trying to cycle up in the rush hour if you have a printing press on your bicycle.
The National Poetry library has a very fancy and valuable carpet.
St Brides library is brilliant (of course).
Stevenage has the best network of cycle lanes in England.
Here are some photos from printing at the National Poetry Library on the Southbank, and a nice photo of Diva, who runs the Caught by the River website and I haven’t seen since Port Eliot days. It was lovely to catch up with Diva.
Check out the fancy carpet (it’s grade one listed).
