This exhibition of posters and ephemera is inspired by the manicule, or printer’s fist, which has been pointing the way to readers for hundreds of years. Expect quirky wordplay, visual puns and decorative joy as today’s letterpress practitioners rise to the challenge and join us in A Show of Hands.

Curated by our visiting research fellow, Tim Jollands, this exhibition brings together over eighty printed celebrations of the manicule, most of them produced specially for the exhibition. We have contributions from a wide range of printers, including many established and emerging fine-press printers and book artists—Tom Sowden and Jane Shaw from Bath Spa among them! The exhibition will run from 30 September to 19 October.

It will be open to the public from 5 to 13 October as part of the town’s Peacock Arts Trail, and then again 18 to 19 October as part of StoryTown.