No matter how well you may think that you know London there are always more marvelous places to discover. Travelers interested in books and printing are well advised to seek out the fascinating St Bride Foundation and Library in the City of London.

St Bride Library (formerly known as St Bride Printing Library and St Bride Typographical Library) is a library in London primarily devoted to printing, book arts, typography and graphic design. The library is housed in the St Bride Foundation Institute in Bride Lane, a small street leading south of Fleet Street near its intersection with New Bridge Street. The Library is named after the nearby church, St Bride’s Church.

St Bride Library opened on 20 November 1895 as a technical library for the printing school and printing trades. The library remained, as the school relocated in 1922 to become what is now known as the London College of Communication. The library’s collection has grown to incorporate a vast amount of printing-related material numbering about 65,000 books and pamphlets.

The Library recently announced that a new edition of a poster created exclusively for the St Bride Foundation by John L. Walters and Tom Gauld will be available this month. All proceeds from the sale of this poster will help fund the upkeep of the listed Victorian building, management and conservation of our unique and irreplaceable library collections and running of our print workshop and learning program.