W. B. Yeats "Cloths of Heaven" poem letterpress print

One of my students set and printed this beautiful W. B. Yeats poem on a one-day letterpress workshop. We ran out of time to put the type away at the end of the day (it was rather an ambitious project for a one-day two-person workshop), so the poem was still sat on the press afterwards. I'd taken quite a shine to it, and Nicola very kindly gave me permission to print some extra copies for the shop. I made some minor adjustments to letterspacing and position of the title, but kept the lovely dark blue colour which suited the poem so well.

The poem is called He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven and reads:

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Supplied in a board-backed cello sleeve.

• Open edition, produced in my studio on the Shropshire/Herefordshire/Powys borders
• Letterpress printed by hand on a Vandercook 4 proofing press
• Hand set metal type
• Navy blue ink
• 160gsm Heritage Antique Cream paper
• 21.5 cm wide x 23 cm tall