Claire Bolton
I began printing in 1976, when our youngest child started to attend nursery and I had some spare time. The first press (an Adana 8 x 5 hand press) had been bought by my husband David in realization of a boyhood dream. Almost immediately my ambition soared and I wanted a bigger press, more type and to print books (yes the bug had bitten truly!). I came to printing with no training or art background but with a deep rooted love of letters and a strong urge to create and make things with my hands. Through my childhood I had made every greeting card I sent and had copied alphabets out into note books from hieroglyphs to Bocklin. For me all these early interests and compulsions came together in printing where I could handle the letters and make books.
Several house and press moves later we now live outside Oxford in an old farm house with a large barn that holds all the printing and also typecasting equipment. In the past 20 years, I have produced over 65 titles many of which are on aspects of Book Arts, such as printing history and paper. I have lectured part-time in typography and letterpress printing at Oxford Brookes University and also teach regular workshops at the Alembic Press as I am anxious that knowledge of letterpress does not die.
I believe that as an artist one should not stand still with a safe formula, but that one should continue to explore and push out into new ground. For the future I want to experiment with the book form a bit more and try and incorporate design ideas from other arts and crafts into my books.
A visit to Teddy Bears.
Pout, Ian. Illustrated by Muriel Mallows.
Printed by Claire Bolton at the Alembic Press. Witney, [Oxon, England], 1994.
Accordion binding with red and gold paste paper covers. Housed in red box. 8 cm.
Limited edition of 125 copies.