Many of you know of my love of letterpress. It started while planning our wedding. I really fell in love with it and with the help of a friend, we ended up printing our own invitations, programs, menus, etc on a letterpress.
That friend has recently had a baby and is ready to pass on this beautiful machine to another owner....and that owner would be me! I am thrilled beyond belief. The move will not be easy as the press weighs about 1500 pounds. I am also inheriting a chest full of type so that I will be ready to print! For those of you that do not know, letterpress is an extremely old form of printing with moveable type. Early newspapers were printed this way as well as the
Gutenberg Bibles . The process is very slow and labor intensive, hence the expense of letterpress goods, but I love it and hope someday to make a side job out of it.
Chris and I went to the International Printing Museum a few weeks ago and took some pictures of presses. Letterpresses are no longer made and about 25 years ago was almost a complete lost art. It has had a resurgence in the past few years, but is very limited by accessibility to the presses.
This is a picture similar to the press I am getting
This is a Heidelberg Windmill press
A room full of type chests
This press is similar to the one Benjamin Franklin used
A room full of presses
