Handpress Printers

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Handpress Printers

1BlauesPress
Jul 3, 2020, 12:55 pm

Hi kids -

Been lurking for a while, haven't felt the need to butt in before. This is associated with a recent post regarding handpress printers, but thought I'd start a new thread just so it doesn't get lost in the wash & everyone can join in the fun.

Contemporary handpress printers: let's begin by clarifying that a handpress is a handpress, not a press operated by hand. It's similar in operation to a common press, but made of iron and steel. A Vandercook is not a handpress, no matter how often you turn the crank. The fact that the printer is inking by hand is perhaps the most significant (challenging) aspect of handpress printing. Lewis Allen suggested removing the inking unit from a Vandercook & doing it by hand, but why not just remove the Vandercook & get a proper press?

It's true there haven't been many people working with handpresses, but more than two. Gabriel Rummonds' Plain Wrapper Press might be at the top of those MIA here, and I don't even know all the others - beyond Tallone (respect) - who were/are at work in Italy. Anyone interested in fine printing should read RG's "Printing With the Iron Handpress," to understand what's what. Skip the bits about setting up the press; read the chapters about design, type, inking, printing, paper, registration, binding. It will inform your collecting choices. Mardersteig's "The Operation of a Hand-press During the First Six Years of Its Work" is also a useful read, and usually priced as a bargain for what it is.

Other recent-ish printers/imprints working entirely with a handpress to consider: Alan Loney's Electio Edtions (interesting dude); Harry Duncan's Cummington Press (his "The Technology of Hand Printing," printed by him on a handpress, is an interesting read); Kim Merker's Windhover Press; Heavenly Monkey (see "Elements in Correlation" on the topic of handpress printing); Ward Ritchie's Laguna Verde; Gerard Brender à Brandis' Brandstead Press (he made his own paper too, for the later books); Robert Baris' Press on Scroll Road; Victor Hammer; Baskin's Gehenna (the books he or his son printed); George McDonagh's Roger Ascham Press; and I don't even know who else but they're out there.

None of which is to take away from the kudos to St James Park Press for keeping the handpress alive and relevant. Inking by hand, on dampened paper (handmade if you have it), really is the truest expression of letterpress. And while the phrase "fine press" is open to all kinds of use & abuse, it always starts with being letterpress.

2ultrarightist
Jul 3, 2020, 1:13 pm

Thank you for the abundant information. Are you a printer yourself? Also, are all of the presses you mentioned still operating (or have operated) in the 21st century? I believe in the previous discussions of the matter on this forum, contemporary meant 21st century.

3dlphcoracl
Jul 3, 2020, 1:30 pm

>1 BlauesPress:

Thank you for your valuable and comprehensive post on printing with the handpress, both past and present.

I clearly had a brain cramp in omitting Alberto Tallone Editore, one of the finest and foremost private presses utilizing the handpress for nearly a century. My oversight was probably due to the paucity of English language editions in their extensive bibliography.

4BlauesPress
Jul 4, 2020, 12:58 pm

And I forgot William Everson!! I owned a copy of his Psalter for a while, but eventually decided it was too much money sitting on the shelf. Beautiful piece of printing.

5booksforreading
Editado: Jul 4, 2020, 4:24 pm

>1 BlauesPress:
A wonderful informative post! Thank you for it!
I only disagree with your last statement that fine press definition "always starts with being letterpress".
I really do not want to start another discussion on fine press definitions, but according to fine book librarians and conservation experts, a fine book is a book "well printed on high quality paper and handsomely bound so that all mechanical components of the books work well together" (Jane Greenfield).
To me, fine book definition goes way beyond letterpress, and it does not have to include letterpress for a book to be considered "fine".

Other than this, I do love reading and handling letterpress books, and knowing that a book was printed by hand makes me especially appreciate time and effort that went into each printed page.

To add to the list of hand press printers, doesn't Chad Pastotnik from Deep Wood Press work with handpress machines all the time to make his impressive beautiful books?

6BlauesPress
Jul 4, 2020, 11:48 pm

I'm not familiar with DWP. A quick look at the site doesn't show any mention or images of a handpress, but he has an interesting collection of other kinds. Many print shops have a handpress, but don't use it for printing books (or much else). Don't know in his case. But thanx for the intro to a printer new to me.

I'm going away for a bit, back to lurking. Will return if ever I have something that might be of general interest/use. Good to meet you all.

7Glacierman
Jul 6, 2020, 2:41 pm

>5 booksforreading: ...a fine book is a book "well printed on high quality paper and handsomely bound so that all mechanical components of the books work well together" (Jane Greenfield).
To me, fine book definition goes way beyond letterpress, and it does not have to include letterpress for a book to be considered "fine".


Amen to that!

8cbellia
Jul 28, 2020, 12:56 pm

The information revolution brought about by book production, credited to Gutenberg, changed the world. Without knowing the technical differences between different types of presses, one can feel the difference between a letterpress and an offset production. Just like the difference between a Kelmscott produced book and a cheap paperback. We can and should celebrate mass production for its information value while at the same time abhor the poor quality of mass
produced, poor quality printing.
A Folio Society imprint is a joy to read and admire, but it pales in comparison to an incunable. and of course both are put off by a medieval illuminated manuscript.
There is a price to pay for mass production. Small press production and hand bookbinding are worth practicing, preserving, and of course supporting.

9DenimDan
Dic 5, 2020, 12:04 pm

One to add to the list of contemporary hand-press printers is Ian Mortimer, I.M. Imprimit.

He certainly doesn't publish editions often at all, but a couple rank up there with the best printing in the 20th c., namely his Ornamented Types (1992) and Banks' Florilegium (1980-90). The former I've had the good fortune of handling at the special collections library at the university in my town. It's indescribably beautiful. I suspect only institutions were able to purchase the Florilegium.

Mortimer also worked with Rampant Lions on a couple special projects, printing on vellum for the deluxe edition of The Chester Play of the Deluge (1977) and doing some smaller portfolios with Carter for Merivale Editions in the 1980s. Most recently, he printed from the original blocks for Eric Ravilious: Engravings (2008) for the Wood Lea Press.

Annoyingly, sellers will list his books as "I.M. Imprint," which drives me nuts.