Dai Nippon Printing Co.,Ltd. (DNP) will hold a special exhibition based on Natsume Soseki's “Ten Nights of Dreams” at the Ichigaya no Mori Book and Letterpress Museum, which it operates, from 31 October 2026 to 14 March 2027. The exhibition will feature demonstrations of letterpress printing and introduce the bookmaking process.
The Ichigaya no Mori Book and Letterpress Museum is a cultural facility where visitors can experience letterpress printing and bookmaking. This special exhibition is an expanded workshop commemorating the fifth anniversary of the museum's opening and the 100th anniversary of the completion of its building. Participants will work together to make a book of “Ten Nights of Dreams.” The exhibition runs from 31 October 2026 to 14 March 2027, with workshops continuing throughout the period.
“Ten Nights of Dreams,” the subject of the exhibition, is a collection of linked short stories by Natsume Soseki. Visitors can retrace the process from selecting the type used in the work from type cases through to bookbinding. The Book and Letterpress Museum has previously held workshops for small groups, but this exhibition adopts a larger-scale production format.
The exhibition provides a detailed introduction to demonstrations of letterpress printing and the bookmaking process in line with the workshop flow. The work proceeds from type selection to typesetting, composition, printing and bookbinding, and includes the use of a sewing machine as well as printing presses. Those involved explained that more than 300 participants in total shared the work over approximately 10 months.
The exhibition is positioned as an opportunity to experience the world of bookmaking through the accumulation of manual tasks. Visitors can observe type selection and the printing and bookbinding processes at close range and retrace the stages through which the work is completed.