Franklin in St Bart's 300

2025 marks the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's first visit to London. At St Bartholomew the Great he learned the print trade.

Remembered as an inventor, diplomat and a Founding Father of the USA, Benjamin Franklin always described himself as a printer. As a boy he ran away from his apprenticeship with his brother James in Boston, and he worked for another printer in Philadelphia. By the time he was 18 he had tired of working on a beaten-up press with worn-out type. Without money, a patron or influential friends he crossed the Atlantic to learn from the leading printers in London, which was the centre of the print trade in the English-speaking world. He arrived on Christmas Eve 1724.

This February specialist hand press printers will operate a working replica of the 'Franklin press' on the exact spot where Franklin mastered the art of printing 300 years ago. The original Franklin press, which Franklin used in London in 1725, is now in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, but Bart's has in situ a working reconstruction from Reading University.

Our visit to St Bartholomew the Great will be on the final day of this wonderful exhibition. Leading hand-press printers will be demonstrating how the 18C letterpress works, and you will be able to witness the printing of commemorative broadsheets and keepsakes (which, in some cases, can be personalised). You can even buy them to take home.

Afterwards, we will be free to explore the magnificent historic church.

Our ticket proceeds will be donated to the church of St Bartolomew the Great for its vital upkeep.

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