Letterpress: The Allure of the Handmade by Nuriman Faris

Letter press DavidJJury ury

LETTER PRESS

The Allure of the Handmade David Jury

CONTENTS 06 10 28 34 38 54

Attitudes to Letterpress

The Allure of the Handmade

The Material of Letterpress

Establishing Conventions

Breaking Conventions

Reviving Standards

60 70 86 112 120 126

Against the Establishment

Craft and Control

Craft and Commerce

Craft and Technology

Craft, Design, and Art

The Integrity of Craft

134 140 146 152 155 157

Appropriating Craft

The Apparatus

Appropriating Technologies

Footnotes

Glossary

Index

INTRODUCTION “ The Principles of Typography are not as set of dead conventions but the tribal customs of the magic forest...” – Robert Bringhurst, typographer and poet

ATTITUDES TO LETTERPRESS

Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing using a printing press. A worker composes and locks movable type into the bed of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type. In practice, letterpress also includes other forms of relief printing with printing presses, such as wood engravings, photoetched zinc “cuts” (plates), and linoleum blocks, which can be used alongside metal type in a single operation, as well as stereotypes and electrotypes of type and blocks. With certain letterpress units it is also possible to join movable type with slugs cast using hot metal typesetting.

press, based on the extant wine press, where the type surface was inked with leather covered ink balls and paper laid carefully on top by hand, then slid under a padded surface and pressure applied from above by a large threaded screw. Later metal presses used a knuckle and lever arrangement instead of the screw, but the principle was the same. Ink rollers made of composition made inking faster and paved the way for further automation.

Letterpress printing was the normal form of printing text from its invention by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century until the 19th century and remained in wide use for books and other uses until the second half of the 20th century. Letterpress printing remained the primary way to print and distribute information until the twentieth century, when offset printing was developed, which largely supplanted its role in printing books and newspapers. More recently, letterpress printing has seen a revival in an artisanal form. Johannes Gutenberg is credited with the invention, in about 1440, of modern movable type printing from individually cast, reusable letters set together in a form (frame or chase). He also invented a wooden printing

CHAPTER THE ALLURE OF THE HANDMADE THE MATERIAL OF LETTERPRESS

“We don’t inhabit the twenty-first century, nor, for that matter, the fifteenth or the second. We live in the bits that interest us...” – Mike Hudson and Jadwiga Jarvis, Wayzgoose Press

THE ALLURE OF THE HANDMADE Composition, or typesetting, is the stage where pieces of movable type are assembled to form the desired text. The person charged with composition is called a “compositor”. Traditionally, as in manual composition, it involves selecting the individual type letters from a type case, placing them in a composing stick, which holds several lines, then transferring those to a larger type galley. By this method the compositor gradually builds out the text of an individual page letter by letter. In mechanical typesetting, it may involve using a keyboard to select the type, or even cast the desired type on the spot, as in hot metal typesetting, which are then added to a galley designed for the product of that process. After a galley is assembled to fill a pageworth a type, the type is tied together into a single unit so that it may be transported without falling apart. From this bundle a galley proof is made, which is inspected by a proof-reader to make sure that the particular page is accurate. Broadly, imposition or imposing is the process by which the tied assemblages of type are converted into a “form” (“forme”) ready to use on the press. A person charged with imposition is a stoneman, doing their work on a large, flat imposition stone (though some later ones were also of iron).

Right: The Wapping project is a resturant, performance studio, and gallery all designed by Frost Design. Vince Frost has no letterpress equipment or materials of his own, but he has accumulated a huge collection of letterpress printed specimens. Frost designed an identity and signage for the Wapping Project and has gone on to design posters and invitations.

More specifically, imposition is the technique of arranging the various pages of type with respect to one another (this is its modern sense). Depending on page size and the sheet of paper used, several pages may be printed at once on a single sheet. After printing, these are cut and trimmed before folding or binding. In these steps, the imposition process ensures that the pages face the right direction and in the right order with the right margins. Low-height pieces of wood or metal furniture is added to make up the blank areas of a page. The printer uses a mallet to level the type and blocks to ensure the printing surface is flat.

The working of the printing process depends on the type of press used, as well as any of its associated technologies (which varied by time period). Hand presses generally required two people to operate them: one to ink the type, the other to work the press. Later mechanized jobbing presses require a single operator to feed and remove the paper, as the inking and pressing are done automatically. The completed sheets are then taken to dry and for finishing, depending on the variety of printed matter being produced. With newspapers, they are

taken to a folding machine. Sheets for books are sent for bookbinding. After a galley is assembled to fill a pageworth a type, the type is tied together into a single unit so that it may be transported without falling apart. From this bundle a galley proof is made, which is inspected by a proof-reader to make sure that the particular page is accurate.

Below: Contemporary letterpress printed ephemera is often produced for other letterpress users and distributed at fine-press fairs and conferences. It is common for references in such material to be made to the work of those, such as de Does, Morison, Rogers, Updike, Wards, and, as in this case, William A. Dwiggins. This keepsake was included in a collection of printed ephemera from the Eight Annual Conference of the American Printing Association, 1983.

Left: Poster by Henrik Kubel, now half of A2- GRAPHICS/ SW/HK. Designed and printed while Kubel was still a college student.

All Images on Left: Front and back cover and spreads from TypoGraphic no. 60, designed by A2-GRAPHICS/SW/HK. The wood letters were printed by Stan Lane at Gloucester Typesetting Services. Wood Type can easily be damaged. Minor scratches or indentations can be overcome by judicious inking and the use of underlays and presure, but many contemporary users of wood type like the â&#x20AC;&#x153;ersonalized â&#x20AC;? nature of the type that displays its age and something of its past.

The invention of ultra-violet curing inks has helped keep the rotary letterpress alive in areas like self-adhesive labels. There is also still a large amount of flexographic printing, a similar process, which uses rubber plates to print on curved or awkward surfaces, and a lesser amount of relief printing from huge wooden letters for lower-quality poster work. Rotary letterpress machines are still used on a wide scale for printing self-adhesive and non-self-adhesive labels, tube laminate, cup stock, etc. The printing quality achieved by a modern letterpress machine with UV curing is on par with flexo presses. It is more convenient and user friendly than a flexo press. It uses water-wash photopolymer plates, which are as good as any solventwashed flexo plate. Today even CtP (computer-to-plate) plates are available making it a full-fledged, modern printing

process. Because there is no anilox roller in the process, the make-ready time also goes down when compared to a flexo press. Inking is controlled by keys very much similar to an offset press. UV inks for letterpress are in paste form, unlike flexo. Various manufacturers produce UV rotary letterpress machines, viz. Dashen, Nickel, Taiyo Kikai, KoPack, Gallus, etc.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and offer hot/cold foil stamping, rotary die cutting, flatbed die cutting, sheeting, rotary screen printing, adhesive side printing, and inkjet numbering. Central impression presses are more popular than inline presses due to their ease of registration and simple design. Printing of up to nine colours plus varnish is possible with various online converting processes.

“ The Principles of Typography are not as set of dead conventions but the tribal customs of the magic forest...” – Robert Bringhurst, typographer and poet

Left: An engraving of the Anisson-Duperron improved wood printing press.

Left: In 1986, IM Imprimit began printing for the first complete publication of 23 sets of early nineteenthcentury, wood engraved ornament types now in the collection of the St. Bride Printing Library. The physical conditions of the engraved blocks was remarkably good considering their age, although some of the surfaces were a little worn. All are endgrain boxwood, made from single blocks.

Several dozen colleges and universities around the United States have either begun or re-activated programs teaching letterpress printing in fully equipped facilities. In many cases these letterpress shops are affiliated with the college’s library or art department, and in others they are independent, student-run operations or extracurricular activities sponsored by the college. Many are included in degree programs. The College & University Letterpress Printers’ Association was founded in 2006 by Abigail Uhteg at the Maryland Institute College of Art to help these schools stay connected and share resources. The current renaissance of letterpress printing has created a crop of hobby press shops that are owner-operated and driven by a love of the craft. Several larger printers have added an environmental component to the venerable art by using only wind-generated electricity to drive their presses and plant equipment. Notably, a few small boutique letterpress shops are using only solar power. In London, St Bride Library houses a large collection of letterpress information in its collection of 50,000 books: all the classic works on printing technique, visual style, typography, graphic design, calligraphy and more. This is one of the world’s foremost collections and is located off Fleet Street in the heart of London’s old printing and publishing district. In addition, regular talks, conferences, exhibitions and demonstrations take place. The St Bride Institute, Edinburgh College of Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, The Arts University Bournemouth, Plymouth University, University for the Creative Arts Farnham and London College of Communication,

Left: Alphabets Sierschirften und Monogramme, published by Fr. Bartholom in Erfurt, circa 1870’s.

Right: Alphabets Sierschirften und Monogramme, published by Fr. Bartholom in Erfurt, circa 1870’s.

run short courses in letterpress as well as offering these facilities as part of their Graphic Design Degree Courses. The Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin houses one of the largest collections of wood type and wood cuts in the world inside one of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company’s factory buildings. Also included are presses and vintage prints. The museum hold many workshops and conferences throughout the year and regularly welcomes groups of students from Universities from across the United States. In 2011 John Bonadies and Jeff Adams created a virtual letterpress that runs on an iPad (and later the Mac) and replicates each step of the letterpress process. LetterMpress was funded from a Kickstarter campaign enabling the developers to collect and digitize wood type from around the world. The app’s press is modeled after a Vandercook SP-15 (considered to be a top-of-the-line proof press in its time, and coveted by artists and designers today).

THE MATERIAL OF LETTERPRESS When Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, his goal was to bring books to the common people. In the decades just preceding the 1440s, printing of any kind required craftsmen to carve entire pages of text into wooden blocks. Once the text was carved, the space around the letters had to be whittled away so the text was the only surface that would touch the page. The blocks would then be inked and paper placed on top, and rubbing the paper onto the wood would create an impression. Each page required its own wooden block, which was a timeconsuming and difficult process. However, wood-block printing did allow books to be copied more easily than the earlier method of transcribing by hand. Gutenberg’s efforts to create an easier way of printing took an extensive amount of time and funding. It is believed that his first forays, between

the 1430s and 1440s, were through his own version of wood-block printing, with individual, reusable letters carved into wood blocks instead of entire words or pages. This allowed for a movable type, where individual letters could be used to form words for one page of print, then taken apart and re-ordered to create the next. While this method was a significant improvement on wood-block page printing, the wooden letters did not print with clarity, so Gutenberg began working with metal type instead. The metal type included individual capital and lowercase letters, as well as punctuation symbols; these characters’ reverse impressions (or “mirror images”) were cast in steel. Letters and symbols could then be assembled on a wooden

forme to create entire pages of text, complete with spacers and lead rules for legibility. In order to transfer these impressions from forme to page, Gutenberg used a lacquer-like ink he created himself out of soot, walnut oil and turpentine. Gutenberg’s printing press was called a “screw press” or handpress, and allowed ink to transfer evenly between the page and the forme. With this new way to print, Gutenberg could print books at a rate of approximately six pages per day. His most notable print job was a copy of the Bible, which was 42 lines of text in two columns on each page, and consisted of two volumes that totaled 1,282 pages — a task that took a staff of 20 and two to three years (between 1452 and 1454/1455) to complete. One hundred eighty copies were made of this Bible, and 48 copies can still be found in museums today.

“We don’t inhabit the twenty-first century, nor, for that matter, the fifteenth or the second. We live in the bits that interest us...” – Mike Hudson and Jadwiga Jarvis, Wayzgoose Press

Left: Prang’s Standard Alphabets, revised edition, published by L. Prang & Co. of Boston, USA. Boston was a major center of excellence for printing in the latter hald of the nineteenth century. The complexity of the work and inventive skills displayed are remarkable. The fact that there was little reference to anything “American” brought such material into disrepute by the early years of the tewentieth century.

Right: A printing house in the seventeenth century. The man kneeling on the left is dampening paper for the press. On top of the rpess is a grphon with a pair of inkdaubers in its talons.

CHAPTER

ESTABLISHING CONVENTIONS

REVIVING STANDARDS

BREAKING CONVENTIONS

AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT

ESTABLISHING CONVENTIONS While the printing press itself changed very little over the next few centuries, the ability to print more quickly and efficiently gave rise to new ways of thinking. The publication of the Gutenberg Bible not only allowed the printed word to reach the common people, it also encouraged the spreading of information and ideas. The first English book was printed in 1473 in Bruges, Belgium, by William Caxton. His printing press and subsequent standardization of the English language are said to be the reason for the expansion of English vocabulary and introduction of inflection in writing. Typeface designer and gunsmith William Caslon created a type that was legible and distinct, which became popular for use in printing important documents. After his death, Caslonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typeface was

printing. Unlike with letterpress, lithography printing allows the entire printing space â&#x20AC;&#x201D; both the text to be printed and the white space surrounding it â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to remain on a level surface with no raised areas. Lithography was less expensive than letterpress printing, due to the availability of cheaper paper options and that, driven by steam power, these presses could print large quantities of pages more quickly than with letterpress. Printers immediately attempted to print color images with these new lithographic presses, as multiple litho plates could be used one after another on the same page. Within 100 years, lithography was the primary method for advertising and magazine printing. However, lithography did not completely remove the need for letterpress printing in the 1800s. The Industrial Revolution brought improvements to the design of the

Center: Large wood type required for such poster work would be bought from type-specimen books such as this one by Vincent Figgins, London, published 1832.

used in the printing of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, which was sent out to all the states.

hand press, including improved leverage and weighting to get the correct amount of pressure put on the form each time. required.

Individuals continued to find ways to improve the look of the printed page over the decades. In the 18th century, printer and typographer John Baskerville created a way to make paper whiter and smoother so that in printing, the ink showed up strong and crisp. He also was the pioneer for adding wide margins to the printed page, as well as spacing, or leading between lines of text. In 1798, Alois Senefelder invented lithography

After a galley is assembled to fill a pageworth a type, the type is tied together into a single unit so that it may be transported without falling apart. From this bundle a galley proof is made, which is inspected by a proof-reader to make sure that the particular page is accurate.

Below: A page from baseline, 1998, an international typographic magazine. This editiorial page signaled the inclusion of an article concerning letterpress. Designed by Hans DieterReichert, using raw material provided by David Jury.

Left: A page from baseline, 1998, an international typographic magazine. This editiorial page signaled the inclusion of an article concerning letterpress. Designed by Hans DieterReichert, using raw material provided by David Jury.

stay connected and share resources. The current renaissance of letterpress printing has created a crop of hobby press shops that are owner-operated and driven by a love of the craft. Several larger printers have added an environmental component to the venerable art by using only wind-generated electricity to drive their presses and plant equipment. Notably, a few small boutique letterpress shops are using only solar power.

REVIVING STANDARDS In the late 1980s, letterpress printing had its own revival among small printers who still wanted that tactile, quality feel that offset printing cannot provide. However, it wasn’t until the 1990s that it became popular among individuals for their personal printing needs. It was around this time when Martha Stewart Weddings featured letterpress wedding invitations, sparking a renewed interest in the printing method.

method of individual characters to print letterpress, others have embraced digital methods that make the process simpler. With computers, designers are able to use software to combine the text and designs to be printed. They can then produce a digital page and create a photopolymer plate of the page’s design. The design can then be pressed into the paper, creating a colorful, tactile work of art.

Original letterpress printers used a “kiss” method of printing; that is, the press only touched the paper enough to transfer the ink. Modern letterpress enthusiasts, however, are interested in deep impressions in the page — more commonly referred to in the industry as “debossing” — which make it immediately obvious that the page is, in fact, letterpress and not printed by any other means. The appeal lies in the deep impressions on the page, as a beautiful, imprinted work of art rather than just a printed page.

Weddings aren’t the only big events that are letterpress-worthy. Bar and bat mitzvah invitations, birth announcements and shower invitations have also appeared, as have letterpress greeting and holiday cards. Gift tags can be imprinted and used for holidays and birthdays.

This elegant, tactile quality of current letterpress printing is now the primary reason for choosing to print with this method rather than offset. As offset is now the primary printing method for both professional and home print jobs, letterpress printing takes the recipient back to a time when printing was a craft that took time to create. It’s now about the look and feel of the paper, and quality is key. While some printers still utilize Gutenberg’s

“We don’t inhabit the twenty-first century, nor, for that matter, the fifteenth or the second. We live in the bits that interest us...” Mike Hudson and Jadwiga Jarvis, Wayzgoose Press

Large wood type required for such poster work would be bought from type-specimen books such as this one by Vincent Figgins, London, published 1832.

“ The Principles of Typography are not as set of dead conventions but the tribal customs of the magic forest...” – Robert Bringhurst, typographer and poet

BREAKING CONVENTIONS

Below: Large wood type required for such poster work would be bought from type-specimen books such as this one by Vincent Figgins, London, published 1832.

Letterpress printing, also called Relief Printing, or Typographic Printing, in commercial printing, process by which many copies of an image are produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. Letterpress is the oldest of the traditional printing techniques and remained the only important one from the time of Gutenberg, about 1450, until the development of lithography late in the 18th century and, especially, offset lithography early in the 20th. Originally the ink-bearing surface for printing a page of text was assembled from individual types by a typesetter or compositor, letter by letter and line by line. The first keyboard-actuated typesetting machines, the Linotype and the Monotype, were introduced in the 1890s. If only a small number of copies is to be made, printing can be done directly from the hand- or machineset blocks of type assembled in forms, but for long press runs, duplicates—stereotypes or electrotyping—are made to prevent wear and damage of the expensive types. Letterpress was originally carried out on platen presses, in which the paper is pressed against the flat, inked form by a flat platen; later, the platen was replaced by a roller in the flat-bed cylinder press; still later, the printing form was wrapped around one cylinder and the paper was

Right: Large wood type required for such poster work would be bought from type-specimen books such as this one by Vincent Figgins, London, published 1832.

passed between this cylinder and a second, creating a rotary press (see printing). Several procedures have been developed for the production of line drawings or reproduction of photographs in the form of halftone pictures by letterpress. The most widely used method of preparing a printing plate for such matter is photoengraving. Letterpress can produce work of high quality at high speed, but it requires much time to adjust the press for varying thicknesses of type, engravings, and plates. Because of the time needed to make letterpress plates and to prepare the press, many newspapers have changed to offset printing. To combat this trend, letterpress printers have developed printing plates made from a photosensitive plastic sheet that can be mounted on metal. See also flexography. Relief printing is a printmaking process where protruding surface faces of the printing plate or block are inked; recessed areas are ink free. Printing the image is therefore a relatively simple matter of inking the face of the matrix and bringing it in firm contact with the paper. A printingpress may not be needed as the back of the paper can be rubbed or pressed by hand with a simple tool such as a brayer or roller. The matrix in relief printing is classically created by starting with a flat original surface, and then removing (e.g., by

carving) away areas intended to print white. The remaining areas of the original surface receive the ink. Traditional text printing with movable type is also a relief technique. This meant that woodcuts were much easier to use as book illustrations, as they could be printed together with the text. Intaglio illustrations, such as engravings, had to be printed separately. Relief printing is one of the traditional families of printmaking techniques, along with the intaglio and planographic families. Modern developments have created other types. In intaglio, the recessed areas are the printed areas. The whole matrix is inked, and the ink then wiped away from the surface, so that it remains only in the recesses. Much greater pressure is then needed to force the paper into the channels containing the ink, and a high-pressure press will normally be required. Intaglio techniques include engraving, etching, and drypoint. With planographic techniques, such as lithography, the entire surface of the matrix is flat, and some areas are treated to create the print image. Normally relief and intaglio techniques can only be mixed with others of the same family in the same work.

CHAPTER CRAFT AND CONTROL CRAFT AND COMMERCE CRAFT AND TECHNOLOGY CRAFT, DESIGN, AND ART

CRAFT AND CONTROL While the printing press itself changed very little over the next few centuries, the ability to print more quickly and efficiently gave rise to new ways of thinking. The publication of the Gutenberg Bible not only allowed the printed word to reach the common people, it also encouraged the spreading of information and ideas. The first English book was printed in 1473 in Bruges, Belgium, by William Caxton. His printing press and subsequent standardization of the English language are said to be the reason for the expansion of English vocabulary and introduction of inflection in writing. Typeface designer and gunsmith William Caslon created a type that was legible and distinct, which became popular for use in printing important documents. After his death, Caslonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typeface was used in the printing of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, which was sent out to all the states. Individuals continued to find ways to improve the look of the printed page over the decades. In the 18th century, printer and typographer John Baskerville created a way to make paper whiter and smoother so that in printing, the ink showed up strong and crisp. He also was the pioneer for adding wide margins to the printed page, as well as spacing, or leading between lines of text. In 1798, Alois Senefelder invented

Right: Large wood type required for such poster work would be bought from type-specimen books such as this one by Vincent Figgins, London, published 1832.

CRAFT AND COMMERCE Offset printing or web offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or “offset”) from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called “fountain solution”), keeping the non-printing areas ink-free. The modern “web” process feeds a large reel of paper through a large press machine in several parts, typically for several metres, which then prints continuously as the paper is fed through. Lithography was initially created to be an inexpensive method of reproducing artwork. This printing process was limited to use on flat, porous surfaces because the printing plates were produced from limestone. In fact, the word ‘lithograph’ historically means “An image from stone.” or “Print from stone.” Tin cans were popular packaging materials in the 19th century, but transfer technologies were required before the lithographic process could be used to print on the tin. The first rotary offset lithographic printing press was created in England and patented in 1875 by Robert Barclay.[2] This development combined mid-19th century transfer printing technologies and Richard March Hoe’s 1843 rotary printing press—a press that used a metal cylinder instead of a flat stone. The offset cylinder was covered with specially treated cardboard that transferred the printed image from the stone to the surface of the metal. Later, the cardboard covering of the offset

cylinder was changed to rubber, which is still the most commonly used material. “The operator must be able to detect high type, damaged or incorrect characters, and tell when the plate is absolutely level.” Kingsport, Tennessee, November 11, 1933 As the 19th century closed and photography became popular, many lithographic firms went out of business. Photoengraving, a process that used halftone technology instead of illustration, became the primary aesthetic of the era. Many printers, including Ira Washington Rubel of New Jersey, were using the low-cost lithograph process to produce copies of photographs and books Rubel discovered in 1901—by forgetting to load a sheet—that when printing from the rubber roller, instead of the metal, the printed page was clearer and sharper. After further refinement, the Potter Press printing Company in New York produced a press in 1903.[4] By 1907 the Rubel offset press was in use in San Francisco. The Harris Automatic Press Company also created a similar press around the same time. Charles and Albert Harris modeled their press “on a rotary letter press machine.” Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledgebased economy and the spread of

learning to the masses. Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439. Among his many contributions to printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink; and the use of a wooden printing press similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period.

printing was adopted all over the world, becoming practically the sole medium for modern bulk printing. The use of movable type was a marked improvement on the handwritten manuscript, which was the existing method of book production in Europe, and upon woodblock printing, and revolutionized European book-making.

His truly epochal invention was the combination of these elements into a practical system which allowed the mass production of printed books and was economically viable for printers and readers alike. Gutenberg’s method for making type is traditionally considered to have included a type metal alloy and a hand mould for casting type.

Gutenberg’s printing technology spread rapidly throughout Europe and later the world. His major work, the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible), has been acclaimed for its high aesthetic and technical quality.

In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information — including revolutionary ideas — transcended borders, captured the masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political and religious authorities; the sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class.

Around 1439, Gutenberg was involved in a financial misadventure making polished metal mirrors (which were believed to capture holy light from religious relics) for sale to pilgrims to Aachen: in 1439 the city was planning to exhibit its collection of relics from Emperor Charlemagne but the event was delayed by one year due to a severe flood and the capital already spent could not be repaid. When the question of satisfying the investors came up, Gutenberg is said to have promised to share a “secret”. It has been widely speculated that this secret may have been the idea of printing with movable type. Legend has it that the idea came to him “like a ray of light”.

Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its people led to the rise of proto-nationalism, accelerated by the flowering of the European vernacular languages to the detriment of Latin’s status as lingua franca. In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered rotary presses allowed printing on an industrial scale, while Western-style

CRAFT AND TECHNOLOGY Letterpress printing, also called Relief Printing, or Typographic Printing, in commercial printing, process by which many copies of an image are produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. Letterpress is the oldest of the traditional printing techniques and remained the only important one from the time of Gutenberg, about 1450, until the development of lithography late in the 18th century and, especially, offset lithography early in the 20th. Originally the ink-bearing surface for printing a page of text was assembled from individual types by a typesetter or compositor, letter by letter and line by line. The first keyboard-actuated typesetting machines, the Linotype and the Monotype, were introduced in the 1890s. If only a small number of copies is to be made, printing can be done directly from the hand- or machineset blocks of type assembled in forms, but for long press runs, duplicatesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;stereotypes or electrotypingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;are made to prevent wear and damage of the expensive types. Letterpress was originally carried out on platen presses, in which the paper is pressed against the flat, inked form by a flat platen; later, the platen was replaced by a roller in the flat-bed cylinder press; still later, the printing form was wrapped around one cylinder and the paper was passed between

this cylinder and a second, creating a rotary press (see printing).Several procedures have been developed for the production of line drawings or reproduction of photographs in the form of halftone pictures by letterpress. The most widely used method of preparing a printing plate for such matter is photoengraving. Letterpress can produce work of high quality at high speed, but it requires much time to adjust the press for varying thicknesses of type, engravings, and plates. Because of the time needed to make letterpress plates and to prepare the press, many newspapers have changed to offset printing. To combat this trend, letterpress printers have developed printing plates made from a photosensitive plastic sheet that can be mounted on metal. See also flexography. Relief printing is a printmaking process where protruding surface faces of the printing plate or block are inked; recessed areas are ink free. Printing the image is therefore a relatively simple matter of inking the face of the matrix and bringing it in firm contact with the paper. A printingpress may not be needed as the back of the paper can be rubbed or pressed by hand with a simple tool such as a brayer or roller.

Left: Large wood type required for such poster work would be bought from type-specimen books such as this one by Vincent Figgins, London, published 1832.

Above: Oscar Harpel ’s book, Typograph of Book of Specimens. This book had a huge influence upon the printing trade of North America when it was published in 1870. It is, essentially, a manual containing technical information, suggestions, and a collection of letterpress jobbing examples. Harpel wanted to reestablish the “art” of printing and utilizing technology in new ways to reestablish a creative and independent role for the printer.

Caslon created a type that was legible and distinct, which became popular for use in printing important documents. After his death, Caslonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typeface was used in the printing of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, which was sent out to all the states.

Left: A book of type specimens and matrix information from Linotype, 1953.

Right: An advertisement printed on the endpapers of Printing, H. A. Maddox, 1923, published in the UK by Pitman & Sons Ltd, promoting Linotype and the Miehle printing press.

he failed to insert paper, the stone plateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image transferred onto the rubber cylinder used to make the impression. After putting paper back in the machine, the stone printed on one side of the page while the rubber cylinder printed on the other.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to record my gratitude to Clive Chizlett for all the advice and assistance that he gave me during the writing of this book, and also to my editor Lindy Dunlop, at RotoVision. Three books in particular have been invaluable to me during the period I spent writing this book. I would, therefore, like to record my indebtedness to the following. Tem arum es non rerum veliatem quis debis autem. Ut venimagnit quid quatur? Omnis ipiet, et molum hit volorpo ristrumquam delluptiam rem et pos cum aut quaspe eserspis poribus et, sectum que pos aut expedia niatem dolorem volupta taspis aspiet am est, quis ut et que antiaspelis volupti occae doloratibus nulpa vent ento quae pra voluptat anitas nobis et accum atur, sum quas audaepedit fuga. Demquibus. Parciae poreribus, tor sequam, eserspi enimus magnis dolupita de simporerro ventiat emolupta ditas quoditaturem enisque volorum utem nosapiciis eventio ma nam quas rem ium nestium hillabo. Quiame excepudam, erunt et la quam fuga. Nam, coriam, simi, cor sunt audam eos amusame voluptaque quaestibus milles arcia vel mod exeratibus anda qui officid qui dolupta nonsequam aligendaes nihit, odio. Optam hillabore vent veliam quodigentota nonsequunti to eaturectur, sum rehende bitente pratia dolupicati intusam voluptas iur abore prernam il magni omnihillit faccati

Ore is ad qui odi nonserrum lab ilit utenihiciis ex everum quatur am qui cone doluptatur modi consed quam susant ullab iur? Atem quis autemoditis minum es que dolo volest, adita delisqu iandam in nobitiae. Hent. Oviduciunte exerum ra eum volecta dolesciliat mos mi, num et aut venesequas maxima quatiberum eumquae maximin iasint venis maximpo ritate quos doluptatem simagni tioreperum et autae sim acculpa quunt. Iquos molor aut ommo il ium is es de poressim id modion natur, con nam, omnistr uptatium ese parcim res vellaut inum aut rempedi ommodis sincia quid unda deliqui tet dolore nobitatium quaspis dest, solendu ciliquis est eiunt omnis volluptam remoluptae re, si dellam qui blandi duci ut is qui quam aut labore nis escius quasi ventior eperumquis nati dessum quam dolecto excepelis esendae labor sunt endaecuptata corro esti comnistrum aut ex es sus aspelest, audit rem hilibusa volore conecum fugitibus maio te nim apisi cum eat vitaspe rferum asperum atet ma nonsenissi coreseq uatenit atatur, volesse quaepel iquat.