New Artist's Book: "The Works of Master Poldy" Based on Joyce's Ulysses
April 8th, 2013—New artist's book: “The Works of Master Poldy” based on James Joyce’s Ulysses, designed and produced by Dublin based artist & designer Jamie Murphy.
What - Artist and designer Jamie Murphy is undertaking a new letterpress book, “The Works of Master Poldy,” based on the musings of Leopold Bloom, James Joyce's seminal hero of Ulysses.
When - Indiegogo campaign launched to fund the book planned for release by Bloomsday 2013, June 16th.
Where - The book will be designed and printed at Distillers Press, NCAD, Ireland's foremost letterpress printing workshop.
“The Works of Master Poldy” is the first-ever attempt to boil down the essence of Leopold Bloom into a collection of his wide-ranging thoughts and quips. Dublin based artist Jamie Murphy is collaborating with Steve Cole (Baltimore, Maryland), organizer of the 2011 'Ulysses Meets Twitter' social media experiment, on this book about Dublin which will be designed and printed in Dublin by Dublin-based craftspeople.
“We want this book to help those unfamiliar with Ulysses experience some of Bloom’s all-too-human world view. And for Joyce fans this will be a fresh look at Bloom,” said Murphy. “To make this experience really special, we’re producing ‘The Works of Master Poldy’ in a large-format hand-printed artist book that will be a wonder to behold and hold.”
The idea for this ambitious Joycean undertaking comes directly from Leopold’s wife, the erotic and unfaithful Molly Bloom. Mrs. Bloom, in her bed at the end of the eventful June day in 1904 that Ulysses chronicles, muses admiringly about her spouse: “Well hes beyond everything. If I only could remember the one half of the things and write a book out of it the works of Master Poldy yes.”
This new book will be printed at the amazing Distillers Press (at the national College of Art & Design) in Dublin, where Jamie is about to undertake a design residency for the coming year. Our Indiegogo campaign funds the design, typesetting (both monotype casting and hand-set metal and wooden type), letterpress printing and hand binding of “Master Poldy” using traditional letterpress methods. Jamie is handling all of this and is already at work on the design of what we know will be a beautiful book.
'The Works of Master Poldy' is currently in early production and we need help to realise this ambitious project. For more information on the campaign and to contribute, go to: www.indiegogo.com/at/Bloom
For further information contact Jamie Murphy (jamie@thesalvagepress.com / 087 96 26 365).
www.thesalvagepress.com / www.liberateulysses.com / www.distillerspress.com
About the Artist
Jamie Murphy is an award winning artist & designer based in Dublin. After working with several of Dublin’s leading design agencies, he set up his own studio, Fjord, in 2009. His main interests include typography, book design and letterpress printing. Jamie recently finished his MA in Design at Distillers Press, NCAD, where he produced a substantial letterpress-printed artists book, “Albert, Ernest & the Titanic.” He has just set up The Salvage Press with the aim of producing and educating in all aspects of letterpress printing. Jamie was recently elected to the National Print Museum’s Curatorial Committee.
