Letterpress 3 packages of unopened type CENTURY PASTONCHI

Description

1. PASTONCHI fractions
2. 10 pt 20th century medium (this typeface is all caps) 2 packages
Will ship for flat rate shipping, well padded.
Letterpress printing
is a technique of
relief printing
using a
printing press
, a process by which many copies are produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper.
[1]
A worker composes and locks
movable type
into the "bed" or "chase" of a press,
inks
it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type which creates an impression on the paper.
In practice, letterpress also includes other forms of relief printing with printing presses, such as
wood engravings
, photo-etched zinc "cuts" (plates), and linoleum blocks, which can be used alongside metal type, or wood type, in a single operation, as well as
stereotypes
and
electrotypes
of type and blocks.
[2]
With certain letterpress units it is also possible to join movable type with slugs cast using
hot metal typesetting
. In theory, anything that is "type high" or .918 inches can be printed using letterpress.
[3]
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 means of printing and distributing information until the 20th century, when
offset printing
was developed, which largely supplanted its role in printing books and newspapers. All forms of data collection were affected by the invention of letterpress printing, as were many careers such as teachers, preachers, physicians and surgeons and artist-engineers.
[4]
More recently, letterpress printing has seen a revival in an artisanal form.
Contents
1
History
1.1
Industrialization
2
North American history
2.1
Canada
2.2
United States
3
Revival and rise of craft letterpress
3.1
Martha Stewart's influence
3.2
Education
3.3
Economical materials
4
Process
4.1
Composition
4.2
Imposition
4.3
Printing
4.4
Photopolymer Plates
5
Variants on the letterpress
6
Craftsmanship
6.1
Creating artwork
7
Current initiatives
8
See also
9
References
10
Further reading
11
External links
11.1
Videos
History
Main articles:
Movable type
,
Printing press
,
Spread of the printing press
, and
Typography
Printer operating a Gutenberg-style screw press
Johannes Gutenberg
is credited with the development in the western hemisphere, in about 1440, of modern movable type printing from individually cast, reusable letters set together in a form (frame or chase). Movable type was first invented in China using ceramic type in 1040 AD. Gutenberg also invented a wooden printing 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. It was Gutenberg's "screw press" or hand press that was used to print 180 copies of the Bible. At 1,282 pages, it took him and his staff of 20 almost 3 years to complete. 48 copies remain intact today.
[5]
This form of presswork gradually replaced the hand-copied manuscripts of scribes and illuminators as the most prevalent form of printing.
[4]
Printers' workshops, previously unknown in Europe before the mid-15th century, were found in every important metropolis by 1500.
[4]
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.
Industrialization
1917 press room, using a
line shaft
power system. At right are several small platen
jobbing presses
, at left, a
cylinder press
.
With the advent of
industrial mechanisation
, inking was carried out by rollers that passed over the face of the type, then moved out of the way onto an ink plate to pick up a fresh film of ink for the next sheet. Meanwhile, a sheet of paper slid against a hinged platen (see image), which then rapidly pressed onto the type and swung back again as the sheet was removed and the next sheet inserted. As the fresh sheet of paper replaced the printed paper, the now freshly inked rollers ran over the type again. Fully automated 20th-century presses, such as the Kluge and
"Original" Heidelberg Platen
(the "Windmill"), incorporated pneumatic sheet feed and delivery.
Rotary presses
were used for high-speed work. In the oscillating press, the form slid under a drum around which each sheet of paper got wrapped for the impression, sliding back under the inking rollers while the paper was removed and a new sheet inserted. In a
newspaper
press, a papier-mâché mixture called a
flong
used to make a mould of the entire form of type, then dried and bent, and a curved metal
stereotype
plate cast against it. The plates were clipped to a rotating drum and could print against a continuous reel of paper at the enormously high speeds required for overnight newspaper production. This invention helped aid the high demand for knowledge during this time period.
North American history
Canada
Letterpress printing was introduced in Canada in 1752 in
Halifax, Nova Scotia
, by
John Bushell
in the newspaper format.
[6]
This paper was named the
Halifax Gazette
and became Canada's first newspaper. Bushell apprenticed under
Bartholomew Green
in Boston. Green moved to Halifax in 1751 in hopes of starting a newspaper, as it did not exist in the area. Two weeks and a day after the press he was going to use for this new project arrived in Halifax, Green died. Upon receiving word about what happened, Bushell moved to Halifax and continued what Green had started. The Halifax Gazette was first published on March 23, 1752, making Bushell the first letterpress printer in Halifax, and eventually Canada. There is only one known surviving copy, which was found in the
Massachusetts Historical Society
.
[7]
United States
One of the first forms of letterpress printing in the United States was
Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick
started by
Benjamin Harris
. This was the first form of a newspaper with multiple pages in the Americas. The first publication of
Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick
was September 25, 1690.
[8]
Revival and rise of craft letterpress
Proof press, 1850
Letterpress started to become largely out-of-date in the 1970s because of the rise of computers and new self-publishing print and publish methods. Many printing establishments went out of business from the 1980s to 1990s and sold their equipment after computers replaced letterpress's abilities more efficiently. These commercial print shops discarded presses, making them affordable and available to artisans throughout the country. Popular presses are, in particular,
Vandercook
cylinder
proof presses
and
Chandler & Price
platen presses
. In the UK there is particular affection for the Arab press, built by Josiah Wade in Halifax. Letterpress recently has had a rebirth in popularity because of the "allure of hand-set type"
[9]
and the differences today between traditional letterpress and computerized printed text. Letterpress is unique and different from standard printing formats that we are currently used to. Letterpress commonly features a relief impression of the type, although this was considered bad printing in traditional letterpress.
[10]
Letterpress's goal before the recent revival of letterpress was to not show any impression. The type touched the paper slightly to leave a transfer of ink, but did not leave an impression. This is often referred to as "the kiss".
[11]
An example of this former technique would be
newspapers
. Some letterpress practitioners today have the distinct goal of showing the impression of type, to distinctly note that it is letterpress but many printers choose to maintain the integrity of the traditional methods. Printing with too much impression is destructive to both the machines and to the type. Since its revival letterpress has largely been used for fine art and stationery as its traditional use for newspaper printing is no longer relevant for use.
Letterpress is considered a
craft
as it involves using a skill and is done by hand. Fine letterpress work is crisper than offset litho because of its impression into the paper, giving greater visual definition to the type and artwork, although it is not what letterpress traditionally was meant for. Today, many of these small letterpress shops survive by printing fine editions of books or by printing upscale invitations,
stationery
, and
greeting cards
. These methods often use presses that require the press operator to feed paper one sheet at a time by hand. Today, the juxtaposition of this technique and offbeat humor for greeting cards has been proven by letterpress shops to be marketable to independent boutiques and gift shops. Some of these printmakers are just as likely to use new printing methods as old, for instance by printing using photopolymer plates on restored vintage presses.
[
citation needed
]
Martha Stewart's influence
Letterpress publishing has recently undergone a revival in the US, Canada, and the UK, under the general banner of the "Small Press Movement". Renewed interest in letterpress was fueled by
Martha Stewart Weddings
magazine, which began using pictures of letterpress invitations in the 1990s.
[
citation needed
]
In 2004 they state "Great care is taken in choosing the perfect wedding stationery ? couples ponder details from the level of formality to the flourishes of the typeface. The method of printing should be no less important, as it can enliven the design exquisitely. That is certainly the case with letterpress."
[12]
In regards to having printed letterpress invitations, the beauty and texture became appealing to couples who began wanting letterpress invitations instead of engraved, thermographed, or offset-printed invitations.
A modern letterpress workshop at the
Basel Paper Mill
, Basel, Switzerland
Education
The movement has been helped by the emergence of a number of organizations that teach letterpress such as
Columbia College Chicago
's
Center for Book and Paper Arts
,
Art Center College of Design
and Armory Center for the Arts both in Pasadena, Calif., New York's
Center for Book Arts
,
Studio on the Square
and
The Arm NYC
, the Wells College Book Arts Center in Aurora, New York, the
San Francisco Center for the Book
, Bookworks, Seattle's
School of Visual Concepts
, Olympia's
The Evergreen State College
,
Black Rock Press
,
North Carolina State University
, Washington D.C's Corcoran College of Art and Design,
Penland School of Crafts
, the
Minnesota Center for Book Arts
, the
International Printing Museum
in Carson, CA, Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, and the Bowehouse Press at VCU in Richmond, VA.
Economical materials
Affordable copper, magnesium and photopolymer platemakers and milled aluminum bases have allowed letterpress printers to produce type and images derived from digital artwork, fonts and scans. Economical plates have encouraged the rise of "digital letterpress" in the 21st century, allowing a small number of firms to flourish commercially and enabling a larger number of boutique and hobby printers to avoid the limitations and complications of acquiring and composing metal type. At the same time there has been a renaissance in small-scale
type foundries
to produce new metal type on Monotype equipment, Thompson casters and the original American Type Founders machines.
[
citation needed
]
Process
The process of letterpress printing consists of several stages: composition, imposition and lock-up, and printing. In a small shop, all would occur in a single room, whereas in larger printing plants, such as with urban newspapers and magazines, each might form a distinct department with its own room, or even floor.
Composition
Tools for composing by hand: block of type tied up, a
composing stick
, a bodkin, and string, all resting in a type galley.
Main article:
Typesetting
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" or "typesetter", setting letter by letter and line by line.
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. The first keyboard-actuated typesetting machines to be widely accepted, the
Linotype
and the
Monotype
, were introduced in the 1890s.
[1]
The Ludlow Typograph Machine, for casting of type-high slugs from hand-gathered brass matrices, was first manufactured in Chicago in 1912 and was widely used until the 1980s. Many are still in use and although no longer manufactured, service and parts are still available for them.
After a galley is assembled to fill a page's worth of 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.
Imposition
A single-page forme for printing the front page of the
New Testament
. The black frame surrounding it is the "chase", and the two objects each on the bottom and left side are the "
quoins
"
Main article:
Imposition
Broadly, imposition or imposing is the process by which the tied assemblages of type are converted into a form (or forme) ready to use on the press. A person charged with imposition is a stoneman or stonehand, doing their work on a large, flat imposition stone (though some later ones were instead made of iron).
In the more specific modern sense, imposition is the technique of arranging the various pages of type with respect to one another. 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 correct margins. Printing formes are commonly put together in multiples of 4 pages so that when the sheet of paper ? after being printed, folded, and cut ? will fall into place each page with the print product. Other types of print materials can be imposed on a front-verse binary imposition scheme, and products with page count and/or outside standards also use personalized imposition
[
dubious
?
discuss
]
The stonehand arranges the pages in such a way that the folios (page numbers) of facing pages add up to the form's total + 1 (12 + 1 = 13, 24 + 1 = 25 etc.)
[
why?
]
Low-height pieces of wood or metal
furniture
are added to make up the blank areas of a page. The printer uses