Letterpress Printing
Letterpress printing refers to the process of reproducing texts using metal type and a hand-operated printing press.
This type of printing was developed in Europe in the mid-15th century (other parts of the world had different printing traditions). Until the industrial revolution of the 19th century, the handpress was the only method for printing texts.
By the middle of the 20th century, mechanized -- and later, digital-- technologies had largely replaced the traditional printing press. But letterpress printing survives as an art form among artists and craftspeople who value its unique qualities and tangible link to the history of making material texts.
Our class project will involve designing a broadside (i.e., a single page publication), setting type, and printing on ZSR Library's 1906 Chandler & Price letterpress.
Short films on hand printing
- The Print Workshop in the Fifteenth CenturyAn introduction to the printing of books as it would have been done in the fifteenth century, using equipment in Cambridge University Library's Historical Printing Room.
- An Introduction to Letterpress PrintingTypography artist Kelvyn Laurence Smith gives the William Morris Gallery an exclusive behind the scenes tour and introduction to letterpress printing at his workshop in Kennington, London.
- Typesetting and PrintingThe Sacramento History Museum demonstrates the full letterpress printing process from type case to the printed proof on an antique printing press from 1852.
- Studying early printed books, 1450-1800 : a practical guide byCall Number: Z124 .W47 2019Publication Date: 2019
