This link will be used primarily to announce workshops,
seminars, and tours related to handpress printing and the book arts. If you have an event
that you would like to have posted here, please contact me at handpress@msn.com.
Professor Michael Twyman leading a discussion on the Trajan
inscription
during the 1999 Legacy of Letters Tour of Rome. (See below for the 2003
tour offering.)
There are no scheduled tours at present. It is with much regret
that I announce that Garrett Boge has indefinitely suspended his "Legacy of
Letters" tours. Those wishing to be notified should resume can contact him at info@letterspace.com.
Printer’s Manuals from Moxon to the PIA, a talk
delivered by Alexander S. Lawson on September 23, 1970 as part of the Heritage of the
Graphic Arts Lecture Series.With reproductions of thirteen title pages from the
principal manuals. Includes a short-title bibliography. Set in Bulmer and printed
letterpress in five colors on Kelmscott Text, an early twentieth-century handmade paper
with a Pierpont Morgan provenance. 64 pages; 4-5/8 x 7-3/8 in. 100 copies. Quarter-bound
in cloth with marbled paper sides. Kirkwood: The Printery, 2002. Price: $175.00.
In Printer’s Manuals from Moxon to the PIA Alexander S.
Lawson traces the history of fifty-three English-language manuals from 1683 to 1953.
Professor Lawson’s prose is authoritative, succinct, and eminently readable.
Alexander S. Lawson is known throughout North America and Europe as
an authority on the history, design, and development of printing types. After an
apprenticeship he attained journeyman status in the early 1930s. He served in the Navy
from 1941 to 1945 and then joined the Rochester Institute of Technology faculty. He was
solely responsible for bringing the Coggeshall collection of Goudy books and materials to
RIT and was instrumental in bringing the Melbert B. Cary Jr. Graphic Arts Collection to
RIT and was appointed the first Melbert B. Cary Jr. Professor in Graphic Arts. Professor
Lawson authored four books and also wrote regular columns for the Inland Printer
and Printing Impressions.
The book is available directly from the printer, Kay Michael Kramer,
at theprintery@charter.netor by
writing to The Printery, 17 Orchard Lane, Kirkwood, MO 63122.
Printing Digital Type on the Hand-Operated Flatbed
Cylinder Press by Gerald Lange. Price: $20. Published by Bieler Press
Monographs; 4216¼ Glencoe Avenue; Marina del Rey, CA 90292. Phone: (310) 821-8269.
A Catalogue of Nineteenth Century Printing Presses by
Harold E. Sterne, with a preface by Stephen O. Saxe. 480 illustrations; 272 pages; 9 x 12
in. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press and The British Museum, 2001. Hardcover.
Price: $75.00. Available online through
[Description taken from the jacket flaps.] This unique work visually captures
the rapid industrial transformation of the presses that drove the dynamic printing
industry during the Nineteenth Century. From presses little different from Gutenberg's
. . . press to the mechanical marvels of the 1890s, Hal Sterne's research
and scholarship has gathered the largest collection of printing equipment illustrations
and advertisements to date. Never before has the printing or publishing historian had such
a comprehensive resource at his disposal. More than 480 rare woodcuts and engravings
capture the engineering technology of that bygone age.
This catalog also includes chapters on Hand, Cylinder, Platen, Lever, Lithographic, and
Rotary presses. A careful study of its pages will reveal the subtle and major changes each
manufacturer made to enhance his machine's productivity and printing quality. The advance
of this technology allowed for the greatest dissemination of the printed word and
illustration the world has ever known. . . .
Harold E. Sterne started his long career in the printing industry at the age of
fourteen when he took an after-school job in a letterpress printing company. Hal took high
school classes in letterpress printing and soon felt confident enough to buy some type and
a platen press and start a printing business in the basement of his parents' home. He
attended West Virginia Institute of Technology majoring in Printing Management. Upon
graduating in 1951 he joined the U.S. Air Force because they promised him a job in
printing. Returning to Cincinnati as a civilian, he taught lithography at a vocational
high school until he found a job in the printing industry. He spent the next 35 years in
the management of large printing plants. . . .
In 1978 he compiled his first Catalog of Nineteenth Century Printing Presses to
make it easier to identify the marvelous old presses that came his
way. . . . He has kept up with letterpress printers through the Amalgamated
Printers Association, American Typecasting Fellowship, and Typocrafters. He continues to
be called upon to help identify old presses.
Printing in Deseret: Mormons, Economy, Politics, and Utah's Incunabula, 1849-1851
by Richard L. Saunders. 215 pages; 6 x 9 in. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press,
2000. Hardcover. Price: $35.00.
This book will be of special interest to handpress enthusiasts since the first press in
Utah was a Philadelphia handpress made by Ramage.
[Description taken from the jacket flaps.] Utah’s first printing press
arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1849, barely two years after the first settlers.
Purchased by printer W.W. Phelps at the behest of Mormon leaders, the press was initially
a private venture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be used as a
social tool to re-establish print communication – and thus foster cohesiveness –
among the reassembling church membership after the Mormons' hasty flight from Nauvoo,
Illinois. It also became a tool to project political interests onto the national stage.
The first document produced was a general communiqué to the church at large. Written
by Willard Richards and approved by Brigham Young, the "Second General Epistle"
was committed to print by that leader's nephew, Brigham H. Young, on October 20, 1849.
Other early jobs included the second printing of the Constitution of the State of
Deseret, part of the first, unsuccessful statehood bid; the materials related to
chartering the University of Deseret (now the University of Utah), the first institution
of higher learning west of the Mississippi; as well as the first issues of the Deseret
News, a newspaper conceived as the Mormon Church’s voice to the outside world.
Printing in Deseret includes a bibliographic history of the press, chronicling
more than fifty of the earliest printed documents, or incunabula, created during the
initial settlement years, most never before described.
This valuable book charts the shift from the operation of the press as an
ecclesiastical, private enterprise to a tenuous but genuine commercial news, book, and
printing concern, and places printing in Utah within the political and economic contexts
of the time.
Richard L. Saunders received the Dialogue Writing Award for History and
Biography in 1996, he is currently the curator of Special Collections and Archives at the
Paul Meek Library, University of Tennessee at Martin.
American Iron Hand Presses by Stephen O. Saxe, with fifteen wood
engravings by John DePol. 128 pages; 7 x 10 in. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1992.
Hardcover and paperback. Price, hardcover: $35.00. Available online through .Price,
paperback: $12,95. Available online through .
[Description taken from the jacket flaps.] From its earliest days in the
fifteenth century until the start of the nineteenth century-a span of 350 years-the
methods and equipment of printing changed remarkably little. Decade after decade the
essential techniques of punch, matrix, type mould and handset type remained unaltered.
That other partner in providing the printed word, the printing press, went on for a total
of 350 years with perhaps only one improvement of consequence.
Then came the nineteenth century. The technology of iron working had finally arrived;
iron was replacing wood and inventors were busy finding new ways to speedup work that had
been done by hand. In the printing field the cylinder press came early in the century but
parallel with this invention was the development of the iron hand press. During the first
part of the century the iron hand press was as important to life and commerce as the more
complex cylinder press. As late as 1837 Harper Brothers still had twenty-four hand presses
in their plant for book printing.
The inventors and entrepreneurs of the era provided an extensive selection of presses
to choose from. Stephen 0. Saxe, the well known printing historian, presents in this book
the story of the iron hand press in North America from its first appearance to final
manufacture. Saxe's well researched text is accompanied by John DePol's illustrations.
Stephen 0. Saxe is the former editor of the American Printing History
Association's Newsletter. His wide-ranging interests in the history of printing
have led to a variety of articles on typefounding and printing. He has written about wood
type for Fine Print and edited a facsimile edition of his copy of the 1832 specimen
of the Boston Type Foundry for Dover Publications. Mr. Saxe has assembled the largest
privately owned collection of American type foundry specimen books in the U.S.
He was educated at Harvard and received a M. R A. degree from Yale. For many years he
designed scenery for network television and later designed books for publisher Harcourt
Brace.
John DePol is justly recognized as one of America's finest wood engravers. The
gem-like play of light and dark in his wood-engraved illustrations, ornaments and
vignettes has enhanced countless books.
He is an Academician of the National Academy of Design and a Laureate, The New York
Printers Wall of Fame.
NEW Matrix 23. [Annual]
The Whittington Press; Lower Marston Farm; nr. Risbury; Leominster; Herefordshire HR 6
ONJ; Great Britain. John Randle, publisher. Phone: 01885-400-250. Fax: 01885-400-666.
Website: . E-mail: john@caslon.demon.co.uk. Matrix is the
preeminent book arts publication in the English language. It is printed letterpress and
each issue contains several letterpress fliers, which are tipped in. An index to Matrix
1 – 21, compiled and introduced by David Butcher, will be published in spring
2003.
Stanhope book project
Erik Desmyter (erik.desmyter@skynet.be) and
Justin Howes (jhowes@hwcaslon.com) are collecting
information for a book about the invention, evolution, and history of the Stanhope iron
handpress and its various manufacturers. Any information – news and locations of surviving
Stanhope presses, advertisements, publications, photographs – would be greatly appreciated.
If you have a handpress-related website and
would like to have it listed here, please let me know.
Dave Tribby’s Resources for Letterpress Printers is the website for the
American Amateur Press Association. It contains links to other letterpress sites as well
as sources for type foundries and printing equipment. Other features include links to
Printing Museums, Local Printing Groups, Typefaces Available from US Foundries, and Type
Lore.
Superlative Books is an online gallery and store featuring handmade, small press, and
unusual books. The site is run by Lisa Ehie and Dan Waber.
Theo Rehak is still casting foundry type, mostly from ATF mats. For a list of available
typefaces, sizes, and prices, go to his website.
This is one of the best, and most attractive, book arts websites that I have seen.
Elizabeth Nevin has assembled a mother lode of valuable information primarily for
letterpress printers. One feature is her classified section which can be used for buying
and selling presses and other equipment and supplies. Check it out.
This is another site created by Elizabeth Nevin. It is actually an updated online version
of her 1993 publication The Letterpress Resource Handbook. The information is
divided among three sections: A. Equipment, sales, and service; B. Organizations and
support; and C. Related resources.
This is the website for the American Printing History Association. Paul Romaine,
webmaster.
Book Arts Web. An extensive list of websites for the book arts, including private presses.
Peter Verheyen, webmaster.
Resources for the History of Books and Printing. An extensive annotated list of
information on the history of books and printing, including private presses. Daniel
Traister, webmaster.
An illustrated guide to setting up a Shniedewend Reliance handpress.
bobtheham@igc.org
Bob Oldham, Ad Lib Press, has an extensive database of over 700 handpresses of all makes
located in North America.
A great source of information about the book arts
is available through online book arts discussion groups. It is easy to subscribe to them:
just type the list server’s e-mail address in the "Send To" box, followed
by the list server’s specified message in the "Message" box. Do not type
anything in the "Subject" box.
Book Arts Web
[Send To] listserv@listserv.syr.edu
[Message] subscribe Book_Arts-L first-name last-name
