Albert, Ernest & the Titanic

2012 Selection

Designed by Jamie Murphy at Distillers Press, NCAD

Letterpress consultation: Sean Sills

Monotype casting: Phil Abel & Nick Gill

Binding: Tom Duffy

Introduction: Colm Tóibín

This book tells the story of Titanic's on board printers as they travel on her maiden voyage. Abraham 'Albert' Mishellany and Ernest Corben made their living from designing and printing with metal type, a skillset seldom employed today.

The culmination of my research for my MA in Design, the book was designed, hand typeset and letterpress printed at Distillers Press, NCAD. The antique and newly cast type was set by hand and the 40 illustrations were printed directly from the original linoleum blocks. One of the inks was made from coal retrieved from the ship's wreck site on the Atlantic sea floor. Types employed include 48pt SB Grotesque no.8 (1907), 18pt Monotype Grotesque series 215 (1926) and newly cast 14pt Monotype Garamond series 156 (1922).

380 x 315mm, 176 pages.

Hand bound in a limited edition of 36.