In August and September 2010, I was Printer in Residence at the Otakou Press, which resides at the University of Otago Library in Dunedin, NZ.My brief was to print a folio of broadsides, or posters, using a poem each from four Australian and three New Zealand poets, in an edition of 100. (The ’4′ was an accident, and the running joke is that it takes four Australian poets to make three NZ poets.) I had the run of the Otakou Press typefaces, including a wonderful collection of wood types, and the choice of their three presses: a Vandercook cylinder proofing press, a small Albion press, and a large Columbian iron press, all of which were only set up for hand printing.

This is the result. The pages are printed on Fabriano Rosapina 220gsm, and the folio cover was designed by myself in collaboration with the University of Otago Bindery, and constructed by the bindery.

The folio cover.

The title page

‘The Sibyl’s Avenue’, by Australian poet Robert Adamson.

‘Sight-Reading’, by Australian poet Stephen Edgar.

‘The Piano’s Birthday’, by NZ poet Michael Harlow.

‘Night Sonnet’, by Australian poet Sarah Holland-Batt.

‘At the Opera’, by Australian poet Les Murray.

‘…If you like’ (untitled), by NZ poet Vincent O’Sullivan. This is a very difficult image to scan, as it is printed very transparently, so this is a photo taken from an angle, unlike the other images in this post.

‘No String Banjo’, by NZ poet Sue Wootton.

If you would like to purchase a copy (although they are nearly sold out), please contact Donald Kerr, Special Collections Librarian at the University of Otago Library: donald[dot]kerr[at]otago[dot]ac[dot]nz.

I have written about the printing process further here, plus there is more writing on my personal blog for the months of August and September, 2010. There is also an interview with me on Dunedin community television here, and for a short time there is a Radio NZ interview on The Arts on Sunday for the 17th of October here.