Discover print and design together
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We can tailor tours, talks and workshops for groups. So bring your students, colleagues, society or friends.
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Behind the scenes of Fleet Street
Step into our historic print workshop and discover the craft behind the printed page. Get up close to a remarkable collection of presses dating from the 1750s onwards, and hear stories from people who spent their careers in the trade.
Travel through centuries of print history, from the arrival of movable type in Europe to the newspapers, books, posters, and publications that shaped everyday life. Fleet Street provides the backdrop, but the story stretches far beyond London, connecting people, ideas, and communities across Britain and beyond.
Discover extraordinary items ranging from a 3,400-year-old Egyptian papyrus and books printed by William Caxton to nineteenth-century broadsides and original designs by Edward Johnston for the London Underground.
The session lasts for two hours or can be delivered as a one-hour visit, focusing on either the print workshop or the library collections.
Maximum of 24 participants.
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Collections Up Close
Take a closer look at the St Bride Library's remarkable collections. From type specimens and printing archives to historic objects and ephemera, we'll help you uncover material connected to your group's interests.
Whether you're interested in typography, graphic design, printing history, publishing, or another area entirely, we'll select collection material to suit your visit. No two sessions are quite the same.
Learn more about researching, handling, and interpreting collection material. Your visit can include an introduction to the collections and guidance on how to explore them, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and follow your interests.
Ideal for design studios, students, researchers, and special interest groups, these self-directed sessions can be arranged as one- or two-hour visits to suit your objectives.
Maximum of 25 participants.
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Printing workshop
Choose from one of three hands-on printing experiences. Each workshop focuses on a single activity, giving your group time to learn traditional techniques and create work of your own. Depending on the activity and group size, participants may work individually or collaboratively in small groups.
Create an original poster using our collection of historic wood type. Experiment with different typefaces, sizes, and layouts to build your design, before inking up the type and bringing it to life on one of our presses. Depending on the size of your group, participants may work individually or collaboratively in small teams.
Discover the art of hand composition by selecting and arranging individual pieces of metal type. Depending on the size of your group, participants may work together to compose and print designs using traditional printing techniques.
Learn the principles of relief printmaking through wood engraving. Using traditional tools and techniques, you'll create an image that can be inked and printed by hand.
All workshops are led by our experienced team of printers and compositors, who will introduce the tools, techniques, and traditions of the print workshop.
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Create your own visit
Combine a print workshop, collections talk, or object handling experience to create a visit that suits your group's interests and goals.
Alongside practical printing activities, groups can handle material from the collections, connecting hands-on processes with the wider history of communication, design, publishing, and typography.
Whether you're a design studio, university group, creative team, professional organisation, or special interest society, we'll work with you to create a programme that reflects your interests.
Our flexible format makes it easy to build a longer experience, combining tours, talks, workshops, and collections-based activities into a memorable day.
Planning to visit the Foundation?
Find us off Fleet Street on Bride Lane. We’re the red-brick Victorian building – you can’t miss us.