St Brigid Press
@stbrigidpress.bsky.social
Letterpress Printer & Small Press Publisher on Monacan Indian Nation Lands in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Emily Hancock, proprietor.
Website: stbrigidpress.net
Language • Interbeing • Compassion
Website: stbrigidpress.net
Language • Interbeing • Compassion
Have a peace-full day, friends.
August 11, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Have a peace-full day, friends.
I missed being in the print shop today, but at least managed to write three poems and replace the tractor’s busted radiator hose.
#gratitude #rurallife #nelsoncounty #poetry #poetryisnotaluxury #poemsandtractors #johndeere #shadetreemechanic
#gratitude #rurallife #nelsoncounty #poetry #poetryisnotaluxury #poemsandtractors #johndeere #shadetreemechanic
July 23, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I missed being in the print shop today, but at least managed to write three poems and replace the tractor’s busted radiator hose.
#gratitude #rurallife #nelsoncounty #poetry #poetryisnotaluxury #poemsandtractors #johndeere #shadetreemechanic
#gratitude #rurallife #nelsoncounty #poetry #poetryisnotaluxury #poemsandtractors #johndeere #shadetreemechanic
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
— Henry David Thoreau, *Walden* (1854)
#thoreau #walden #castlesintheair #foundations #blueridgemountains #julymorning
— Henry David Thoreau, *Walden* (1854)
#thoreau #walden #castlesintheair #foundations #blueridgemountains #julymorning
July 18, 2025 at 11:55 AM
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
— Henry David Thoreau, *Walden* (1854)
#thoreau #walden #castlesintheair #foundations #blueridgemountains #julymorning
— Henry David Thoreau, *Walden* (1854)
#thoreau #walden #castlesintheair #foundations #blueridgemountains #julymorning
One of the unsung heroes of the print shop is the dehumidifier. Our summers are always humid, & increasingly hot. And humidity is no friend to the cast-iron presses & lead-alloy metal type that fills the space.
#blueridgemountains #virginia #printshop #shoptalk #letterpress #castiron #metaltype
#blueridgemountains #virginia #printshop #shoptalk #letterpress #castiron #metaltype
July 16, 2025 at 3:25 PM
One of the unsung heroes of the print shop is the dehumidifier. Our summers are always humid, & increasingly hot. And humidity is no friend to the cast-iron presses & lead-alloy metal type that fills the space.
#blueridgemountains #virginia #printshop #shoptalk #letterpress #castiron #metaltype
#blueridgemountains #virginia #printshop #shoptalk #letterpress #castiron #metaltype
Late afternoon at the type case… Shop Dog Linji-the-Aussie is exhausted from herding little metal letters all day…
#aussie #letterpress #metaltype #shopdog #printshop
#aussie #letterpress #metaltype #shopdog #printshop
July 15, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Late afternoon at the type case… Shop Dog Linji-the-Aussie is exhausted from herding little metal letters all day…
#aussie #letterpress #metaltype #shopdog #printshop
#aussie #letterpress #metaltype #shopdog #printshop
Happy birthday, Henry!
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite only a sense of existence....My wealth is not possession but enjoyment.”
HDT, December 6, 1856
#thoreau #contentment #otd #americanhistory
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite only a sense of existence....My wealth is not possession but enjoyment.”
HDT, December 6, 1856
#thoreau #contentment #otd #americanhistory
July 12, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Happy birthday, Henry!
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite only a sense of existence....My wealth is not possession but enjoyment.”
HDT, December 6, 1856
#thoreau #contentment #otd #americanhistory
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite only a sense of existence....My wealth is not possession but enjoyment.”
HDT, December 6, 1856
#thoreau #contentment #otd #americanhistory
What to with bold, old metal type with the disconcerting name of “Empire”? Well, one solution is to beat swords into ploughshares. So I printed up some 72pt Peace with Morris Fuller Benton’s 1930s design.
#peace #ploughshares #typedesign #metaltype #printinghistory
#peace #ploughshares #typedesign #metaltype #printinghistory
July 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM
What to with bold, old metal type with the disconcerting name of “Empire”? Well, one solution is to beat swords into ploughshares. So I printed up some 72pt Peace with Morris Fuller Benton’s 1930s design.
#peace #ploughshares #typedesign #metaltype #printinghistory
#peace #ploughshares #typedesign #metaltype #printinghistory
“To know the spirit of a place is to realize that you are a part of a part and that the whole is made of parts, each of which is whole. You start with the part you are whole in.”
— Gary Snyder, “The Place,The Region,&The Commons” in *The Practice of the Wild* (Counterpoint, 1990)
#garysnyder #place
— Gary Snyder, “The Place,The Region,&The Commons” in *The Practice of the Wild* (Counterpoint, 1990)
#garysnyder #place
July 5, 2025 at 12:54 PM
“To know the spirit of a place is to realize that you are a part of a part and that the whole is made of parts, each of which is whole. You start with the part you are whole in.”
— Gary Snyder, “The Place,The Region,&The Commons” in *The Practice of the Wild* (Counterpoint, 1990)
#garysnyder #place
— Gary Snyder, “The Place,The Region,&The Commons” in *The Practice of the Wild* (Counterpoint, 1990)
#garysnyder #place
“Find your place on the planet, dig in, and take responsibility from there.”
— Gary Snyder, from a footnote in “Four Changes” (1970)
#garysnyder #homeplace #blueridgemountains
— Gary Snyder, from a footnote in “Four Changes” (1970)
#garysnyder #homeplace #blueridgemountains
July 3, 2025 at 11:37 AM
“Find your place on the planet, dig in, and take responsibility from there.”
— Gary Snyder, from a footnote in “Four Changes” (1970)
#garysnyder #homeplace #blueridgemountains
— Gary Snyder, from a footnote in “Four Changes” (1970)
#garysnyder #homeplace #blueridgemountains
Reading Gary Snyder this evening —
June 27, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Reading Gary Snyder this evening —
“Big wheel[s] keep on turnin’”…
The 1914 Chandler-&-Price printing press coming back to life this morning. After a back injury a couple of years ago, I retired the foot-treadle & now let the motor do the work of keeping this 1500+ pound beast rolling.
#letterpress #printing #printshoplife
The 1914 Chandler-&-Price printing press coming back to life this morning. After a back injury a couple of years ago, I retired the foot-treadle & now let the motor do the work of keeping this 1500+ pound beast rolling.
#letterpress #printing #printshoplife
June 25, 2025 at 3:09 PM
“Big wheel[s] keep on turnin’”…
The 1914 Chandler-&-Price printing press coming back to life this morning. After a back injury a couple of years ago, I retired the foot-treadle & now let the motor do the work of keeping this 1500+ pound beast rolling.
#letterpress #printing #printshoplife
The 1914 Chandler-&-Price printing press coming back to life this morning. After a back injury a couple of years ago, I retired the foot-treadle & now let the motor do the work of keeping this 1500+ pound beast rolling.
#letterpress #printing #printshoplife
Have you ever seen the underside of a metal type forme? The bottom of all the letters and spacing material has its own fascinating structure and pattern. (Just make sure it’s locked up tight before taking a look ;-)
#letterpress #metaltype
#letterpress #metaltype
June 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Have you ever seen the underside of a metal type forme? The bottom of all the letters and spacing material has its own fascinating structure and pattern. (Just make sure it’s locked up tight before taking a look ;-)
#letterpress #metaltype
#letterpress #metaltype
Slowly & carefully distributing the type back into its case, breaking up the clods of words & spacing material & fingering language’s newly-friable ground again. These little silver seeds will sprout something new, in time.
#letterpress #language #metaltype #distributing #decomposition #bookmaking
#letterpress #language #metaltype #distributing #decomposition #bookmaking
June 24, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Slowly & carefully distributing the type back into its case, breaking up the clods of words & spacing material & fingering language’s newly-friable ground again. These little silver seeds will sprout something new, in time.
#letterpress #language #metaltype #distributing #decomposition #bookmaking
#letterpress #language #metaltype #distributing #decomposition #bookmaking
June 14, 2025 at 3:41 PM
~
creek talked
all night long —
so smooth,
even the moon drowned
in that silver tongue
~
(From *Soundings: haiku & carvings* by Emily
Hancock, St Brigid Press, 2014)
#poetry #creeks #blueridgemountains
creek talked
all night long —
so smooth,
even the moon drowned
in that silver tongue
~
(From *Soundings: haiku & carvings* by Emily
Hancock, St Brigid Press, 2014)
#poetry #creeks #blueridgemountains
May 12, 2025 at 4:44 PM
~
creek talked
all night long —
so smooth,
even the moon drowned
in that silver tongue
~
(From *Soundings: haiku & carvings* by Emily
Hancock, St Brigid Press, 2014)
#poetry #creeks #blueridgemountains
creek talked
all night long —
so smooth,
even the moon drowned
in that silver tongue
~
(From *Soundings: haiku & carvings* by Emily
Hancock, St Brigid Press, 2014)
#poetry #creeks #blueridgemountains
Sewing tiny books in the print shop bindery (with shop-dog Linji at my side).
#sewing #sewingbooks #handsewing #printshop #printshoplife
#sewing #sewingbooks #handsewing #printshop #printshoplife
April 12, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Sewing tiny books in the print shop bindery (with shop-dog Linji at my side).
#sewing #sewingbooks #handsewing #printshop #printshoplife
#sewing #sewingbooks #handsewing #printshop #printshoplife
“My life as essentially belongs to the present as that of a willow tree in the spring.”
— Henry David Thoreau
A willow tree or, in this case, a Japanese magnolia. The present moment is vast but fleeting; let’s not miss it.
#thoreau #spring #magnolia #japanesemagnolia #presentmoment #now
— Henry David Thoreau
A willow tree or, in this case, a Japanese magnolia. The present moment is vast but fleeting; let’s not miss it.
#thoreau #spring #magnolia #japanesemagnolia #presentmoment #now
March 23, 2025 at 11:26 AM
“My life as essentially belongs to the present as that of a willow tree in the spring.”
— Henry David Thoreau
A willow tree or, in this case, a Japanese magnolia. The present moment is vast but fleeting; let’s not miss it.
#thoreau #spring #magnolia #japanesemagnolia #presentmoment #now
— Henry David Thoreau
A willow tree or, in this case, a Japanese magnolia. The present moment is vast but fleeting; let’s not miss it.
#thoreau #spring #magnolia #japanesemagnolia #presentmoment #now
A poem for St Brigid’s Eve, which was last weekend.
This and other published poems of mine are offered freely each Sunday on my Substack page emilyehancock.substack.com .
#stbrigid #poetry
This and other published poems of mine are offered freely each Sunday on my Substack page emilyehancock.substack.com .
#stbrigid #poetry
February 9, 2025 at 4:24 PM
A poem for St Brigid’s Eve, which was last weekend.
This and other published poems of mine are offered freely each Sunday on my Substack page emilyehancock.substack.com .
#stbrigid #poetry
This and other published poems of mine are offered freely each Sunday on my Substack page emilyehancock.substack.com .
#stbrigid #poetry
Together, personally and communally, we can undo the causes and conditions of harm, of violence, of war in speech and action.
#unlearnwar #unlearnviolence #donoharm #peacework #together #woodtype
#unlearnwar #unlearnviolence #donoharm #peacework #together #woodtype
January 26, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Together, personally and communally, we can undo the causes and conditions of harm, of violence, of war in speech and action.
#unlearnwar #unlearnviolence #donoharm #peacework #together #woodtype
#unlearnwar #unlearnviolence #donoharm #peacework #together #woodtype
Hello from the frozen tundra just outside the print shop door. I’m taking one sip of steaming coffee, and heading back inside to print.
#blueridgemountains #rurallife #january #cold #coffee #gratitude #print #letterpress
#blueridgemountains #rurallife #january #cold #coffee #gratitude #print #letterpress
January 8, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Hello from the frozen tundra just outside the print shop door. I’m taking one sip of steaming coffee, and heading back inside to print.
#blueridgemountains #rurallife #january #cold #coffee #gratitude #print #letterpress
#blueridgemountains #rurallife #january #cold #coffee #gratitude #print #letterpress
Some new poems are slipping into the world now. They’ll fit into your hand. Maybe heart.
*Falling Into Place* — 44 short-form poems by moi, with 5 Sumi-ink illuminations by Nancy Maxson. Offset printed interior with a letterpress jacket; handsewn. $16.
#poetry #writingcommunity #writing #booksky
*Falling Into Place* — 44 short-form poems by moi, with 5 Sumi-ink illuminations by Nancy Maxson. Offset printed interior with a letterpress jacket; handsewn. $16.
#poetry #writingcommunity #writing #booksky
December 29, 2024 at 1:32 PM
Some new poems are slipping into the world now. They’ll fit into your hand. Maybe heart.
*Falling Into Place* — 44 short-form poems by moi, with 5 Sumi-ink illuminations by Nancy Maxson. Offset printed interior with a letterpress jacket; handsewn. $16.
#poetry #writingcommunity #writing #booksky
*Falling Into Place* — 44 short-form poems by moi, with 5 Sumi-ink illuminations by Nancy Maxson. Offset printed interior with a letterpress jacket; handsewn. $16.
#poetry #writingcommunity #writing #booksky
Giving myself wide latitude this morning for poetry and lemon cookies washed down with coffee and woodstove warmth.
#poetry #milosz #czeslawmilosz #writingcommunity
#poetry #milosz #czeslawmilosz #writingcommunity
December 25, 2024 at 3:29 PM
Giving myself wide latitude this morning for poetry and lemon cookies washed down with coffee and woodstove warmth.
#poetry #milosz #czeslawmilosz #writingcommunity
#poetry #milosz #czeslawmilosz #writingcommunity