The Kelly Library’s Print Studio has published three chapbooks in collaboration with faculty, librarians, and staff from across the St. Michael’s College undergraduate divisions. In 2019, it published A Tetrad in celebration of the philosopher and former St. Michael’s College professor Marshall McLuhan, followed by Cumhdach, an Irish / English poem by St. Michael’s professor Máirtín Coilféir. A third title, Judith, a collaboration between former Kelly Library Chief Librarian Sheril Hook and St. Michael’s College professors Alison More and Iris Gildea, was published in 2023.
Information about each title, and how you can purchase a limited edition copy, is available below.
All proceeds from the sale of the Kelly Print Studio publications go to the Friends of the Kelly Library in support of their mission to enhance the intellectual pursuits of our students.
About the Book
A Tetrad, by Simon Rogers; book design and printing by Deborah Barnett.
This chapbook honours Marshall McLuhan, a St. Michael’s professor who rattled the world with his take on the influence of media and technology. Called A Tetrad, the chapbook is both a digital and a hand-printed instance of McLuhan’s tetrad concept.
What is a Tetrad?
A tetrad is a set of four things.
McLuhan’s tetrad refers to a set of four media laws he believed you could apply to any human creation, from ideas to artifacts. When a new brainchild appears, McLuhan says, it affects existing culture in four ways: it ENHANCES, REVERSES, RETRIEVES, and OBSOLESCES.
Purchase a copy
A Tetrad comes in two editions: the first, pamphlet-stitched in a run of 125, costs $75.00 CAD plus shipping; the second, a coptic-bound impression of 25 copies, costs $150.00 CAD plus shipping.
Signed by Michael McLuhan, the chapbook’s two editions are die cut, hand sewn, and letterpress-printed from plates on 100% cotton paper.
About the Author and Designer
Simon Patrick Rogers is the special collections archivist at the John M. Kelly Library. He has extensive experience processing, arranging, and appraising archival materials and as an archival consultant. He has also been active as a faculty instructor, teaching material bibliography for the Book and Media Studies program at the University of St. Michael’s College and is an alumnus of the Book History and Print Culture programme (BHPC) at Massey College. He is a co-founder of the community outreach project, Toronto Information Network for Independent Music Co-operative (TINI) and has published numerous articles on diverse topics including archives, municipal history and architecture, music, literature and the field of monetary appraisal.
Deborah Barnett is an independent typographic designer and letterpress printer in Toronto, the publisher and creative Director of Someone Editions. One of the founding members of Dreadnaught Press in the 1970s, Deborah has worked with literary works by Margaret Atwood, A.F. Moritz, and Nicole Brossard among many. She designs letterpress chapbook productions as explorations in material research, creating experiential learning environments, and providing authentic training in the book arts.
About the Book
Cumhdach: A Poem in Irish and English, by Dr. Máirtín Coilféir; book design and printing by Deborah Barnett.
This chapbook was designed and printed by Deborah Barnett in three letterpress inks and a blind impression, with a laser-cut and etched cover. The papers were made from cotton at La Papeterie St-Armand in Québec. Wrapped in sheep’s vellum from Pergamena in Montgomery, New York, Cumhdach is available in a numbered edition of 52 copies signed by the author.
Purchase a Copy
Cumhdach: A Poem in Irish and English costs $125.00 CAD plus shipping. This is a numbered limited edition of 52 copies, each signed by the author.
About the Author and Designer
Dr. Máirtín Coilféir is from Navan, County Meath, Ireland, and is a former Celtic Studies professor at the University of St. Michael’s College. His poems have appeared in The Stinging Fly, Gorse, and Poetry Ireland Review, as well as the anthology Calling Cards, which was published by the Gallery Press last year and includes English translations by Paul Muldoon. Máirtín’s first book, Titley, was published in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Irish-language Book of the Year award.
Deborah Barnett is an independent typographic designer and letterpress printer in Toronto, the publisher and creative Director of Someone Editions. One of the founding members of Dreadnaught Press in the 1970s, Deborah has worked with literary works by Margaret Atwood, A.F. Moritz, and Nicole Brossard among many. She designs letterpress chapbook productions as explorations in material research, creating experiential learning environments, and providing authentic training in the book arts.
About the Book
Judith is a limited-edition hand-sewn letterpress chapbook containing a reproduction of an except of Judith: An Old English Epic Fragment by Albert S. Cook, 1888, selected and adapted by Dr. Sheril Hook, Dr. Alison More, and Dr. Iris J. Gildea; book design and printing by Deborah Barnett.
This chapbook was designed and printed by Deborah Barnett in letterpress inks and blind impression. The paper is handmade from 100% cotton, produced for this edition by Papeterie Saint-Armand, Quebec. Cover papers are vintage Strathmore Grandee 100lb cover. The text type is Luminari, designed with multi-language character sets needed for Old English rendering by Philip Bouwsma and published by Canada Type in 2008.
Purchase a copy
Judith costs $95.00 CAD plus shipping. This is a numbered limited edition of 52 copies, each signed by the contributors.
About the Contributors and Designer
Dr. Sheril Hook is Associate Dean, Teaching & Learning at York University Libraries in Toronto (2022- ). She studied Old English grammar during her Master’s in English Literature which involved public readings of various Old English texts. That experience prompted the creation of Judith as a nod to the #MeToo movement and provided an opportunity to work with female leaders at St. Michael’s College where she held the position of William D. Sharpe Chief Librarian and Director of Archives from 2014 – 2022. During that time, she led the development of the first three publications of the Kelly Library Print Studio.
Dr. Alison More is an Associate Professor and the inaugural holder of the Comper Professorship in Medieval Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto. Her research investigates the intersections between social and religious culture in Northern Europe from 1250 to 1450. She is primarily is interested in women’s experiences, as well as alternative interpretations of absences and inconsistencies in the historical record. She is co-investigator for The Other Sister, a project on non-cloistered religious women in medieval and early modern Europe.
Dr. Iris J. Gildea is an Associate Professor at the University of St. Michael’s College and teaches in the Book & Media Studies Program. She has taught at St. Michael’s for over ten years. Iris’ work and research are at the intersections of art, media, trauma and feminist studies. Most of her courses focus on various aspects of critical media studies. She writes and publishes on trauma theory and art as a mode of meaning-making and healing, often with a focus on survivors of gendered violence and childhood trauma.
Deborah Barnett is an independent typographic designer and letterpress printer in Toronto, the publisher and creative Director of Someone Editions. One of the founding members of Dreadnaught Press in the 1970s, Deborah has worked with literary works by Margaret Atwood, A.F. Moritz, and Nicole Brossard among many. She designs letterpress chapbook productions as explorations in material research, creating experiential learning environments, and providing authentic training in the book arts.
Purchase a copy
Please contact us at kelly.library@utoronto.ca to purchase a copy. Shipping for each order is $25 flat; in-person pick-up at the John M. Kelly Library is available at no cost. Taxes are included in all pricing.
A 10% off bundled deal is available. A set of all three publications, including a pamphlet-stitched copy of A Tetrad, is available for $265 plus shipping. Taxes included.