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Prints from the past digitised for new Manx Museum exhibition

MNH Poster to mark the Isle of Man Millennium festival in 1979MNH
The collection includes a poster advertising events arranged for the Manx millennium year

A range of historical prints from the national collections have been digitised for a new exhibition.

The By Design display features sketches by Hugo Dachinger, who was interned on the Isle of Man in 1940, and vintage posters from Manx firms.

The exhibition also highlights the techniques and technologies that "have shaped the art of printing", Manx National Heritage (MNH) said.

The artwork is on show in the cabinet of curiosity at the Manx Museum.

MNH A 19th-century lithographic printing stoneMNH
A 19th-century lithographic printing stone is one of 33 exhibits

Prints created using a variety of traditional methods feature in the collection, including those made by lithography and letterpress, which allowed for mass production.

The collection includes posters promoting the Isle of Man Steam Railway and the ferry from the Isle of Man to Fleetwood.

Advertisements for Sulby Glen Corn Flour and Sulby Glen Rice Starch, and early 19th-century printing plates for card money can also be seen in display.

MNH Vintage Sulby Glen Corn Flower advertisementMNH
An advertisement for Sulby Glen Corn Flour from the mid-1800s features in the display

Lead MNH graphic designer Christina Gleave said prints and posters had been "a vital means of communication, and a familiar feature of our public spaces since the 19th century".

Whether promoting the island as a tourist destination, products and services, exhibitions and performances, or political causes and protests, the items were "compelling visual evidence of the Isle of Man's social and cultural history", she said.

The collection has been added to the MNH online print and poster archive, which already holds almost 400 items digitised from originals.

MNH A poster promoting a Hugo Dachinger exhibitionMNH
Hugo Dachinger sketches and stencils have been digitised for the display

MNH's collections information manager Jude Dicken said the collections team and conservators worked with professional photographers to use the best techniques to capture the detail up close.

The project aimed to create digital copies of original works, which could be centuries old, that were as close to the original as possible, she said.

The digitisation meant the collection were "discoverable to the world", she added.

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