PAST EVENTS
Professor John Charmley
Winston Churchill: Man, Myth & Legend
Tuesday 23 January 2024 · Stationers’ Hall
On 23 January, Professor John Charmley joined us at Stationers’ Hall to talk on Winston Churchill: Man, Myth and Legend.
John Charmley is a former Professor of History at the University of East Anglia as well as Professor Emeritus and former Provost of St Mary’s University. He is an esteemed historian, author of numerous works of twentieth-century history and biography and one of the nation’s foremost historians on the life of Winston Churchill.
Among the first to receive access to the Churchill archive, Professor Charmley is one of the nation’s foremost historians on the life of Winston Churchill. He revealed a fascinating portrait of the lesser-known Winston, the very human parliamentarian who supported his family primarily through his work as a prolific author. He described how, in masterminding the written account of Britain during World Wars I and II, Churchill was able to construct an enduring victory epic in which he became one of the main protagonists of history.
The talk was exceptionally well-received and there was not enough time to take all the questions from the audience! The excellent news is that Professor Charmley is planning to join us for the Society’s Summer Outing to Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham on 13 June.
Our menu, designed by Sally Theodosiou and printed by Typecast Colour, featured the speaker’s subject from his portrait on the five-pound note.
Christmas Party
Monday 4 December 2023 · The Deck
We had a splendid evening at The Deck, a rooftop bar in the heart of the City. A wonderful book raffle raised a considerable sum for the Charitable Trust, with books donated from the old Type Archive (thanks to James Alexander for arranging that). Members’ special raffle prizes were very kindly provided by Carol Kemp, and Simon Lawrence from The Fleece Press – our deepest thanks to them both. And huge thanks also to Sue Dunk for arranging such a lovely venue – just perfect for an evening of sparkling drinks and conversation!
November Luncheon and AGM
Jon Gray & Jamie Keenan
Tuesday 14 November 2023 · Stationers’ Hall
In November we had our AGM at Stationers’ Hall, followed by a talk from two hugely talented book cover designers, Jon Gray and Jamie Keenan.
They’re each multi-award winning designers in their own right, but together they also created the Academy of British Cover Design, which celebrates the very best in book cover design each year.
Jon has worked under the name ‘gray318’ for the past 20 years. He has designed book jackets for all of the major publishers in the world. Amongst many others, his work can be seen on the covers of books by Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Sally Rooney, William Gibson and Jonathan Safran Foer.
Jamie worked in-house at Jonathan Cape before turning freelance in 1998. He now works for a mixture of British, American and European publishers and has designed covers for Stephen King, Martin Amis, Jennifer Egan, Philip Pullman, Nick Hornby, Richard Dawkins, A M Homes, Iain Banks, Bill Bryson, Kazuo Ishiguro and thousands of others.
Jon and Jamie talked us through their ‘Ten Disputable Theories of Cover Design’, a light-hearted look at the ideas and techniques that underpin their design processes, and showcased a beautiful selection of their covers.
The menu for the Luncheon was designed by our Chair, Alistair Hall, in the form of a book jacket featuring the Ten Disputable Theories, and printed by F.E. Burman.
To mark the end of his chairmanship, Alistair was also presented with a beautiful commemorative paper weight, created by Fiona Boyd from the Kindersley Workshop (you can see it over on our Weights of Office page).
Chair’s Lunch and visit to LCBA
Wednesday 11 October 2023 · London Centre for Book Arts
For current Chair Alistair Hall’s final committee meeting, we visited the fantastic London Centre for Book Arts, run by new members Simon Goode and Ira Yonemura.
Just on the edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, LCBA is an artist-run, open access studio for all things books. After teas and coffees we were given a tour of the beautiful space, and then given a brilliant book-binding workshop by Simon, who taught us how to make a hard-cover 12 page concertina booklet.
Before we left we also plundered LCBA’s fantastic shop.
The visit was an utter delight, and we owe a big thank you to Simon and Ira. If you’re interested in taking part in a workshop, you can find out more here.
After our visit, we wandered around the corner to Lanterna, for our meeting and a tasty lunch.
Quiz Night
ON BEHALF OF THE CHARITABLE TRUST
Tuesday 10 October 2023 · St Bride Foundation
Another fantastic quiz in aid of the Society’s Charitable Trust, hosted by the inimitable Colin McHenry, with questions set by the marvellous Catherine Dixon.
Postponed by a week due to a train strike, we still had a good showing.
Four teams took part: Extraordinary (with the staff from Martin Morgan’s Extraordinary Editions and friends), Paperwise (hosted by our Honorary Membership Secretary Justin Hobson, and with Vice-Chair Patricia Solomon, and St Bride Librarian Sophie Hawkey-Edwards), Gadzooks (with ex-Chairs Paul Harpin and Jeremy Tankard, aided by member Rian Hughes and guests), and Quizzy Pop (with current Chair Alistair Hall, ex-chairs Becky Chilcott and Margaret Willes, together with members Sallyanne Theodosiou and Peter Jones).
Competition was fierce, and it was neck and neck until the final round, when Extraordinary took the lead, and the prize of a bottle of prosecco each.
Colin McHenry also added in a few sweet spot prizes throughout, and the fantastic raffle raised a significant amount of money for the Charitable Trust.
Huge thanks to Catherine for setting the questions, to Colin for hosting so joyously, to Sue Dunk for arranging the event, to Martin Morgan for organising the raffle, to Sue Bradbury and Carol Kemp for helping out so well, and to everyone who donated to the raffle.
David Pearson
Tuesday 12 September 2023 · The Art Workers’ Guild
David Pearson specialises in typographic design, particularly for books and book covers. He’s the talent behind Penguin’s million-selling Great Ideas series, was listed as one of Britain’s top 50 designers by The Guardian, and is also a Royal Designer for Industry.
David joined us at The Art Workers’s Guild to discuss his career. After studying at Central St Martins – he studied with Alistair Hall, the Society’s Chair this year, and was taught by Society members Catherine Dixon and Phil Baines – his first job saw him employed at Penguin as a text designer. He then moved into cover design, and spent an inspirational amount of time in the Penguin archives researching Penguin by Design, which he also designed, and which was written by Phil Baines.
David went on to share examples of work from his career as a freelance cover designer. He’s a hugely entertaining, knowledgeable and self-effacing speaker, and shared many insights about how cover design influences our buying choices.
Together with David, Alistair designed a keepsake for the event, based on one of David’s cover designs for a series of John le Carré novels.
Summer Luncheon
Tuesday 18 July 2023 · Stationers’ Hall
The sun shone down on us kindly for our Summer Luncheon – a pleasingly informal gathering at Stationers’ Hall.
Forty or so members gathered in the garden at Stationers’, before going up to the Court Room for a delicious BBQ buffet lunch.
We also had a fantastic book raffle, which raised more than £500 for the Charitable Trust. Thank you to everyone who donated books for the raffle, and to everyone who bought a ticket.
The Wynkyn de Worde Society Summer Outing
Thursday 6 & Friday 7 July 2023
2023’s Summer Outing saw a fine selection* of the Society’s members heading down towards the south coast, to visit a wonderful exhibition at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, and to explore the delights of the Design Archives at the University of Brighton.
The sun-blessed trip began at Ditchling, with the stunning Signs of the Seaside exhibition – featuring research and typographic works from Justin Burns; and new commissions from graphic artists, signwriters and illustrators, including Anthony Burrill, Amy Goodwin, Marion Deuchars and Emma Carlow. The layouts of Blackpool’s Comedy Carpet by Gordon Young and Why Not Associates drew a lot of attention – perhaps a topic for a future talk?
The exhibition was followed by a delicious lunch nearby at The Bull, before we made our way down to Brighton. Ex-chair Carol Kemp kindly invited us to join her in the luxurious surroundings of Brighton Beach House for pre-dinner drinks. We basked on the balcony in the late-afternoon sun before wandering into town for relaxed dinner at Côte. A few of us were staying in Hove, and we wandered back there along the promenade under a starlit sky.
On Friday morning we gathered at the University of Brighton’s Design Archives, where Sirpa Kutilainen and Jen Grasso from the university had pulled together a mass of gorgeous bits of design for us to rummage through. There were pieces by Barbara Jones, Willy de Majo, Anthony Froshaug, FHK Henrion, and many others, producing a gentle hum of appreciative ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the Society’s members, as well as more than a few remembered anecdotes.
We were then joined at a delicious lunch at nearby Tutto by previous speaker Matt Baxter from Baxter & Bailey.
Our minds and bellies full, we wandered down to the seafront, to ascend 138 metres into the sky on Brighton’s i360, to get a birds-eye view of the glories of the British seaside.
That was the end of the official trip, though members were later spotted riding the Galloping Horses on the seafront’s carousel…
* Members and guests who attended:
Alison Guy, Alistair Hall, Becky Chilcott, Carol Kemp, Clive Smith, David Sparrow, Derek Albiston & Ann Gavin, Emel Soylu, Lynda Brockbank, Matt Baxter, Paul Harpin, Rian Hughes, Robin & Phyllida Smeeton, Seb Lester, and Sue Dunk.
Elizabeth Ellis & David Marshall
Slow News and Other Stories
Tuesday 16 May 2023 · 12:15pm at Stationers’ Hall
For our May Luncheon at Stationers’ Hall, the Society’s Honorary Designers, the wonderful Elizabeth Ellis and David Marshall, talked to us about the duality of running their letterpress studio, The Counter Press, and their graphic design practice, Counter Studio.
Nearly 80 members were in attendance, and Elizabeth and David showcased some beautiful work, including their stunning letterpress printed newspaper, Extra Condensed No.3.
They had also designed, hand typeset and printed a beautiful menu and keepsake for the event, using type from the Enschedé foundry, part of the Desmond Jeffrey Collection which is held at The Counter Press.
The stock for the keepsake was kindly provided by member Justin Hobson of Fenner Paper.
Chris Riddell
Illustrating Politics in the 21st Century (and Other Fantasy Worlds)
Tuesday 14 March 2023 · The Art Workers’ Guild
The unfeasibly talented illustrator, author, and political cartoonist Chris Riddell OBE joined us at The Art Workers’ Guild in March.
Riddell has won a heap of major awards, including the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal - awarded for illustration in books for children - an unprecedented three times. He was the 2015-2017 Children’s Laureate and in 2019 was awarded the OBE by the Queen for his services to children’s literature. His recent work includes a brand new illustrated edition of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and illustrated editions of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – with title lettering by Carol Kemp, and book design by Becky Chilcott, both ex-Chairs of the Society.
A packed audience was enthralled and entertained as he recounted his journey. From being a young boy drawing for wine gums in his local church, to being taught by Raymond Briggs at Brighton Polytechnic – who described his work as “marvellous, marvellous, marvellous”. From there Riddell moved to London, working at The Economist as their in-house illustrator, before moving on to the Sunday Correspondent, The Independent, and then in 1995 The Observer.
During his humorous and entertaining talk, Riddell drew scenes from his life, using a visualiser (a sort of overhead projector) to show his beautiful illustrations.
As the Chair of our Charitable Trust, Colin McHenry, later commented: “Ding dong, bang on, a cracking evening.”
Society Chair Alistair Hall also produced a keepsake newspaper for the evening, featuring a selection of Riddell’s favourite cartoons from his 28 years at The Observer.
For those who couldn’t attend, Chris Riddell was on Desert Island Discs in March 2020 – you can listen to that here.
Luke Tonge & Daniel Alcorn
Creating Community (in Birmingham and Beyond)
Tuesday 24 January 2023 · Stationers’ Hall
A fantastic start to the year, with our speakers Luke Tonge and Daniel Alcorn, founders of Birmingham Design, an organisation celebrating local, national and international design. Their fantastic Birmingham Design Festival hosts a truly diverse range of world-class speakers each year.
Luke and Dan talked about their experience of setting up Birmingham Design, and hosting the festival, conferences, workshops and even a design shop, as well as their plans for 2023 and beyond.
Luke is a graphic designer, lecturer and events-wrangler in Birmingham. He specialises in identity and editorial work for brands, agencies and charities. Dan is a designer and front-end developer working on digital products for arts and cultural organisations at design agency Substrakt.
The luncheon menus were designed by our honorary designers, David & Elizabeth from Counter Studio, in the form of a foldout A3 sheet, produced in four different colours, each with different artworks on the reverse.
Tom Thomson
News in the Digital World
17 November 2022 · Stationers’ Hall
Tom Thomson spoke about his life as a foreign correspondent, beginning as a Reuters financial journalist and transforming into a war correspondent, including his period within the British newspaper industry and the challenges for print of a world switching rapidly to digital. His talk encompassed the rise of fake news and the value of trusted, branded content; and touched on his post-media life as a technology entrepreneur.
Tom was a foreign correspondent and senior executive with Reuters, the global media company. He was based in the Middle East, US, Asia and Africa and was latterly Global Managing Editor of the 2,500-strong news operation. He was then Managing Editor of Scotland’s main newspaper group. He is on the board of the British Academy’s Council for British Research in the Levant and is a Global Fellow of London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He has been founding chair of three technology start-ups ranging from ‘chemical weapons destruction’ to ‘recycled plastic construction blocks’. He served on the board of the British Council, the UK’s £1.2 billion international cultural relations organisation, chaired the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scotland’s main professional orchestra, and was awarded an OBE for Services to Classical Music.
Wynkyn de Worde Society Quiz Night
4 October 2022 · St Bride Foundation
After a covid-related gap of three years the Quiz Night in aid of the Society‘s Charitable Trust took place on Tuesday 4th October. Six teams took part and the quiz was, as usual, impeccably run with sparkling flair by Quizmaster Becky Chilcott. It was a very jolly evening with questions that were amusingly challenging and which kept many people saying ‘I am sure I know that’ when clearly they didn‘t.
During the course of the evening, held once again at St Bride Foundation, there were a number of ‘spot’ questions for individual prizes and, prior to the announcement of the winners, the traditional raffle of highly desirable illustrated books.
In the end, the winning team in this all-or-nothing contest was appropriately called Awl or Nothing, made up of members of the London Centre for Book Arts and our current Vice Chairman Alistair Hall. But it was a close-run contest, with the other teams – assembled by our current Chairman Derek Albiston (Beyonce Know-Alls), Judith Bastin (Inkpots), Justin Hobson (PaperWise), Martin Morgan (Extraordinary) and Brian Verstage (Optima) – only a smidgeon or two behind Awl or Nothing.
As always, events like this one depend on the hard work of a team of people, so special thanks are due to Becky Chilcott, Sue Dunk, Sue Bradbury, Patricia Solomon, Liz Brough and Stephen Brough.
Alistair Hall and the Awl or Nothing team from LCBA
The PaperWise team led by the worldly wise Justin Hobson
Irene Friend
Know the Stop. How printed form can create drama.
20 September 2022 · The Art Workers’ Guild
Irene talked about the complexities of giving voice to print, and how influential women such as Isabella Whitney, Cicely Berry and Elise Fogerty have played significant roles in the arts of communication, voice and text dictation, in drama and audio presentation. It was an engaging talk that made us think more about how print translates to the spoken word, whether in speechor dramatic production.
To Hull and Back
An expedition to Kingston-upon-Hull
2-4 September 2022
Hull is rebranding as the capital of co-working hubs - places where remote workers can hire desk space and congregate for creative inspiration. It is also home to some inspirational museums and galleries, and a historically fascinating Old Town – all in close proximity. Join us on this expedition.
We visited at the culmination of this year’s Freedom Festival, an international arts festival, which has been running each year since Hull became UK City of Culture 2017.
James Boyle
‘Designed by chance: stories of unlikely successes’
21 July 2022 · Stationers’ Hall
James Boyle retired from the BBC as Controller of Radio 4. He has also been a U.K. Civil Service Commissioner. Since retiring he has been a Trustee of the British Council, Chair of the National Library of Scotland and Chair of the Scottish Government's Cultural Commission. He brought together the teams that made Edinburgh the first UNESCO City of Literature and brought to Glasgow the title UNESCO City of Music. He was educated at the University of Strathclyde and the University of East Anglia. He has three honorary doctorates. James Boyle was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy, where he has served as Fellowship Secretary. James has three sons and seven grandchildren.
Alastair Mann
‘Tracing the Forgotten Jacobite through print and image: King James II and VII’
9 June 2022 · Pewterers’ Hall
Alastair Mann talked to us about the missing Jacobite in print and image. He explored James II and VII’s representation in art and print and how he used and was used in visual image. Along the way we got a glimpse of his remarkable journey from dashing young cavalry commander to pious prince in exile.
“James II and VII (1633-1701) has been subjected to overwhelmingly negative assessments by historians of his period. Being removed from the thrones of England and Scotland in the so-called ‘Glorious Revolution’ has seen him vilified by the ‘winning side’ and a tidal wave of Whig histories accusing him of a range of failings, from simple ineptness to the more serious charge of authoritarianism and absolutism. Worst of all, he was a monarch who put his Catholic faith above all other policy matters when the people of England and Scotland were predominantly Protestant. His brother Charles II was certainly an absolutist, but James was a beyond the pale Catholic absolutist. Remarkably, even Jacobite experts tend to omit James from their deliberations focusing instead on the causes and consequences of the unsuccessful rebellions of his son and grandson. However, James was an interesting figure in a visual and textual sense, revealing his personality and motivations. Portrait of James II and VII by John Riley, reproduced by permission of the Government Art Collection.”
John Mitchinson
Sterne Lessons – What an 18th century bestseller still has to teach us
15 March 2022 · The Art Workers’ Guild
John Mitchinson has worked in publishing for decades. He helped to found the television panel game show, QI, and has co-written all their books. He was Waterstones’ first marketing director and he has held senior publishing roles at Orion, Cassell and Harvill. He co-hosts Unbound publishing’s Backlisted podcast.
On its publication in 1759, Tristram Shandy became an instant sensation and Laurence Sterne, then an obscure 46 year-old clergyman living in rural Yorkshire, was catapulted to a level of fame that most contemporary authors can only dream of. But Sterne had carefully prepared his passage to celebrity. John Mitchinson explains how he did this using tricks of production and marketing from which modern publishers still have much to learn.
Ron Grosset
Publisher at Gresham Publishing
27 January 2022 · Pewterers’ Hall
Ron thoroughly entertained us with his talk about Tartan, which was completely re-engineered by Sir Walter Scott, exactly 200 years ago this year, with the aid of the new monarch, the ‘fashion icon’ George IV.
Amber Weaver
Femme Type
18 November 2021
Amber Weaver told us all about Femme Type, her wonderful book, website and social media campaign that promotes, supports and encourages women who design type, and who work with type.
Patrick Burgoyne, former editor of Creative Review, 21 September 2021
Patrick took us through some favourite print projects he came across, whilst he was in the editor’s chair at CR. He described the many varieties of print techniques that the magazine had tried out — and showed fascinating videos of craft printers in Brazil, and taxi sign makers in India —who had been commissioned to make special covers.
Summer outing, Farley Farm and Gallery East Sussex, 26 August 2021
Carol Kemp organised a wonderful lunch, and visit to the home of Roger Penrose and Lee Miller where former guests were Picasso and Man Ray. The English surrealist Penrose was the founder of the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts). He wrote Picasso’s monograph. Lee Miller was Man Ray’s muse and lover, a Vogue model, chef, and an outstanding war photographer.
Baxter and Bailey, design consultants, 20 May 2021, on Zoom
Matt Baxter and Dom Bailey took us through an A-Z of their excellent work — that they call ‘Design for good’ — for clients that include Brighton Womens’ Centre, Goldmiths University, My Maths, and a new identity for contemporary classical music imprint, Nomad.
Grundini (aka Peter Grundy), 16 March 2021, on Zoom
Our second 2021speaker was Peter Grundy who is a terrific designer, and information graphic artist — Peter has developed a graphic style that has sustained his extremely successful long career in design for print. He entertained us with relaxed anecdotes about his work.
Anne Braybon, 28 January 2021, on Zoom
Anne spoke about a time when magazine design, ideas and society were changing in the sixties. She talked us through the history of TOWN magazine and the magazine’s art director Tom Wolsey. Paul Harpin described NOVA magazine and the work of Art Directors Harri Peccinotti and David Hillman.
Alistair Hall and Simon Callow, 19 November 2020, on Zoom
Alistair told us all about the careful research and photography he put together for his book London Street Signs, and actor Simon Callow announced the winners of our members’ Limerick competition and kindly read the odes out loud.
Simon Esterson and John L Walters — eye 100, Tuesday 15 September 2020 on Zoom
The art director and editor of the wonderful eye magazine joined us to take us through the presentation and selection of content for their 100th anniversary issue.
Andrew Johnston on his grandfather Edward Johnston, 21 November 2019, at the Stationers’ Hall
Andrew regaled us with tales of the life and times of his grandfather; the man who did more than any other to change the face of typography in the twentieth century.
Professor Fred Deakin, 17 September 2019, at the Artworkers’ Guild
Fred, founder of Airside and musician with Lemon Jelly, discussed the future of graphic design showing some of his work and new media projects he instigated as UAL Professor of Interactive Digital Arts for example Modual, a collaboration between UAL & Glasgow School of art.
Rob Shepherd, 19 March 2019, at the Artworkers’ Guild
Our guest speaker was managing director of Shepherds, Sangorski and Sutcliffe. He talked about their incredible ostentatiously jewelled book The Great Omar — one copy was lost on the Titanic, one destroyed in a WW2 bombing raid, one survives, in The British Museum.
Michael Johnson, 17 May 2018, at Stationers’ Hall
Michael is the founder and creative director of Johnson Banks, a London-based branding and design company. Here are some of their brilliant projects. Michael brought along fantastic printed items to his talk, to be passed around the delighted audience.
Jeremy Leslie, 28 March 2018, at The Artworkers’ Guild
Jeremy owns the magCulture studio and shop; dividing his time between designing, consulting and writing. He’s a passionate advocate for editorial design, which he sees as an ever-changing discipline that has always adapted to new contexts.
Naomi Games, 25 January 2018, at The Stationers’ Hall
At our January meeting, Naomi Games spoke to us about her father. Abram Games will need no introduction and Naomi focussed on his use of type in the work he produced throughout his career.
