One of the city’s famous landmarks is York Minster, regularly visited by more than 600,000 people a year. And within the grounds of this historic building is the York Minster Library, which houses 90,000 books, some dating back over 500 years.
A 20-strong group of Northern Stationers and other guests had the chance to visit the library in November as part of a special trip organised by Liveryman Robert McClements.
Northern Stationers is an informal group of 10 to 12 which meets around three or four times a year. Its purpose is to promote the Stationers’ Company, to arrange an annual visit to encourage activities outside London, and to encourage attendance of London events.
The York event included a private viewing hosted by Sarah Griffin, rare books librarian at the library, who showed the visiting party – which included Printweek – a wide selection of different historic books as well as other documents and ephemeral print.
One of the key points of interest was the chance to see one of very few surviving copies of the so called ‘Wicked Bible’, which features a famous typo that proved a disaster for printer Robert Barker, a Past Master of the Stationers’ Company.
Printed in 1631, it left out the word “not” from the seventh commandment, meaning it reads “Thou shalt commit adultery”. Barker was fined £300 – the equivalent to £63,000 in 2024, for incorrect printing.
A viewing of The Pica, the first book printed in York, in 1510, was also part of the library visit, along with other works printed by Robert Barker in York.
Speaking to Printweek at the event, McClements said: “I’m on a mission to reveal hidden moments in history and celebrate the fact that they are in York. The connection with Stationers and the Past Master who printed the Wicked Bible just makes the whole thing extraordinary.
“And it’s been a coincidence of interest when I found that the Master [Paul Wilson, current Stationers’ Company master who attended the event] is researching Robert Barker and his colleague.”
The library is just one of the city’s points of interest for someone who loves print. Following a lunch at Grays Court, attendees had the opportunity to either visit the Minster or to continue to explore the print heritage on offer just a few minutes’ walk away.
The first stop for the latter group was Quacks Printers, based in the city centre, where its managing director Martin Nelson hosted a visit that included a look at its Arab and Albion letterpress machines, although the firm’s day-to-day printing today is largely digital.
“We get most of our income from advertising; we create small magazines which go out in the east of Yorkshire and advertising revenue from those is our mainstay.
“We will do general printing but mainly we do our magazines and also books, generally short runs of 100-200 books. Most of our work is bespoke with [high] attention to detail,” he said.
Nelson said the business invites in members of the public to use some of its historic letterpress machines – including local students and artists, “but it doesn’t get used very often, because we’re a working business”.
He added the company also has plans to tap into York’s tourism market and use its space to enable children to get involved in dab or block printing.
Speaking about the visit to Quacks, McClements said: “I’m intrigued by historic printing techniques, and I like to see the art being sustained. There’s a place for traditional skills alongside the internet and digital technology. I respect it as a work of art.”
The day in York concluded with a visit to Thin Ice Press: The York Centre for Print, a new centre recently launched to celebrate the city’s tradition of printing, and to help ensure that the endangered craft of traditional printing continues to thrive “for centuries to come”.
Manager Lizzy Holling gave the group a tour of the bright and inviting new building, which houses powered proofing presses, hand presses, tabletop and iron presses among other kit.
She said the origins of the initiative started with a small teaching press on campus at the University of York. Over the past few years, the project has grown massively in scope from a print studio on the university’s campus through to eventually moving into its new home earlier this year in an old schoolhouse situated in St Anthony’s Gardens.
Now a pressroom, museum, and gallery, which is backed by some funding from the university plus research funding and donations, the centre offers workshops, away days, and bespoke tuition while artists can also hire the equipment to use for their own work.
“We get about 20 people through the doors each day and then we were open as part of the York Unlocked weekend [in October], where we had over 500 people through,” said Holling.
“I think it’s a brilliant moment in York, it feels like there’s a real heritage crafts revival and it’s a great time to jump on it and safeguard this stuff.”
