TOWN comprises of ten new poems by Annemarie Ní Churreáin and a series of new photographs by Rich Gilligan. The book serves as a snapshot of Dublin City, affectionately known to locals as ‘Town’. The interplay of text and image is facilitated by a series of staggered folding pages. The book is printed on newly commissioned handmade paper with the tipped-in images all exposed by hand onto resin coated paper.
Designed, type-set and letterpress printed by Jamie Murphy at Distillers Press, NCAD. The type is Adrian Frutiger’s Méridien printed here in 14 and 24 point (the ‘normal’ weight was released by Deberny & Peignot in 1957 followed by the italic in 1966). Rich Gilligan’s photographs were captured in Dublin city over the last days of 2017. They have been enlarged by hand from the 35mm negatives onto resin coated Ilford MGIV by Barbara Wilson at her darkroom in London. The water-marked 200 gsm handmade paper was commissioned for this book from the Velké Losiny Mill in the Czech Republic. Over 500 square feet of italian book cloth was painted by hand.
Printed in an edition of 80 copies. The bindings were executed by Craig Jensen, assisted closely by Marc Hammonds, at BookLab II, San Marcos, Texas. Copies marked 1–50 are bound in painted cloth over boards, housed in a cloth slipcase. Similarly bound, copies marked i–iv are intended for collaborators. Copies lettered A – Z are bound in full alum tawed goat and are each housed, accompanied by a portfolio containing eight additional photographic prints, in a painted cloth covered solandar box.