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
From International Printing Museum |
This is a Heidelberg Windmill press
From International Printing Museum |
A room full of type chests
From International Printing Museum |
This press is similar to the one Benjamin Franklin used
From International Printing Museum |
A room full of presses
From International Printing Museum |
6 comments:
Awesome! Were your ears burning? I was just telling a stationer friend today about your love of letterpress and how amazing your wedding invitations were! So cool!
That's really cool! I love pretty papers, etc. and am sure I'd love this too! Congrats!
Thanks Katy! Hopefully one day we can collaborate on a project!
I am so excited for you! That looks so interesting to me-I don't know much about it.
So excited for you!!!
so neat! enjoy
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