Backstories, Part One: A Tiny Mighty Printing Press

Hello, Friends of the Press!

This is the first of a new blog series profiling the backstories of some of the equipment here. From presses to paper cutters, we’ll take a brief look at each tool, highlighting its history and how it came to St Brigid. Hope you enjoy meeting some of these venerable members of our print shop!

---

The Kelsey Excelsior 3x5 ~

A Tiny Mighty Press!

The largest press in the shop at St Brigid weighs over 1500 pounds. At just a bit more than 20 pounds, the Kelsey Excelsior 3x5 is the smallest. But this century-old wee wonder punches far above its weight in its role as an ambassador for letterpress printing.

View fullsize

The circa-1930 Kelsey Excelsior 3×5 printing press here at St Brigid.

The Kelsey Company in Connecticut manufactured a long line of “Excelsior” table-top printing presses for the hobby trade, beginning in 1873 and continuing until 1994. They marketed their presses (and their kits of ink, type, and stationery) to the kids who aimed to make their own name tags or Christmas greetings, as well as the businessmen who wanted to print their own business cards. These portable presses delighted generations of inky enthusiasts — and still do.

How did this particular bright blue Kelsey press find its way to the St Brigid shop? Read on to find out the amazing backstory.

In the 1920s and ‘30s, a boy named Stephen lived with his family in Erie, Pennsylvania. When his grandfather passed away, Stephen was given his grandfather’s gold-tipped cane. Though a stylish accoutrement of a well-to-do gentleman, the cane held little interest for the young lad — except as a means to a different, much more enticing treasure. In 1930, Stephen pawned that fancy walking stick for ten dollars and bought himself a Kelsey printing press. This Kelsey press.

Stephen went on to enjoy letterpress printing so much that he kept the hobby up throughout his life. When he had a son of his own, he taught him to love printing, too. In 2015, when retirement and downsizing bid the son to consider passing the Kelsey on to new inky hands, he put up an ad on a printers’ forum. Luckily, happily, magically, I was the one to see that notice and was able to welcome the press to the print shop here.

The Kelsey press operates by pressing down on the U-shaped handle, which causes the inked rollers to move across the type (not shown in this video) and the press to close, transferring the ink to paper. Before returning to the open position, the rollers take up more ink from the rotating disc.

Janae, a student at a college in northern Virginia, delights in printing her first piece on the Kelsey.

In the past ten years, the Kelsey 3x5 has been a wonderful ambassador for the trade, accompanying me to numerous events to demonstrate the basics of traditional printing. The small press always makes a big impact, and each time I see the sparkling eyes and smiling faces of new printers, I say thank you to that boy in Pennsylvania who, almost 100 years ago, dreamed big with this Tiny Mighty Press.

The Kelsey 3×5 printing press perched atop its (very) big sibling, the 1500lb Chandler-&-Price press.

Repairing What Breaks

Hello, Friends of the Press,

Sometimes, things break. Whether through long-use, misuse, abuse or neglect, or just plain time and tiredness. Last week a small-but-critical part on the 111-year-old cast-iron Golding Pearl press finally gave out: the chase clamp, which holds the chase (a metal frame which holds the type) in place against the press bed.

View fullsize

Circled in this photo is the chase clamp. With the aid of a spring, it pivots on a small metal pin, clamping the chase to the press bed.

View fullsize

Here you can see the chase clamp break ~ snapped in two right at the pin. Unfortunate, but not uncommon for these old pieces of cast-iron.

Sometimes, things can be fixed. I took the part over to a local welder to see if his expertise and tools could repair it. With a mixture of carefulness and long-experience, Stuart was able to bring the clamp back into working order, TIG welding the break with very hard nickel and then polishing it smooth. Thank you, Stuart!

View fullsize

You can see the bead of nickel where the part was welded back together. It now pivots easily around the pin. (You can also see a decades-earlier weld at the left-hand tip of the clamp.)

The next day, I reinstalled the clamp and inked the press up for a test drive. The part did its job perfectly, and I went on to print about 500 pages that afternoon!

Linji the shop dog was, as usual, unimpressed ;-)

View fullsize

It feels like there are some big things that are broken in our nation and world right now, and so many people are hurting. There are no easy fixes. The pandemic, centuries of racism and injustice, economic upheaval, and environmental degradation, are turning lives and livelihoods upside down. The suffering is real and deep. Our hearts and minds and hands must work with great carefulness and great courage to fully see, and compassionately meet, the needs of this moment, the needs of our brothers, sisters, and planet.

To help spread words of care and concern, solidarity and urgency, we are continuing to expand our line of The People's Postcards. This week, we debut declarations of Healthcare For All!

Like the Black Lives Matter postcards, these are pre-stamped ~ it's easy to pen a short note to your elected representatives and pop the card right in the mail.

The details:

• Letterpress printed with antique wood type.

• USPS postcard size 6" x 4.25"

• Pre-stamped / postage-paid.

• Packs of 10 ($10) and 25 ($25).

• Proceeds donated to The Poor People's Campaign.

However you choose to join in, thank you all for your efforts towards a more just, loving, and equitable world. We're all in this together.

With gratitude,
Emily

Emily Hancock
St Brigid Press
Afton, Virginia

Printing, Circa 1776

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a demonstration of the University of Virginia’s replica wooden common press:

View fullsize

The common press at the University of Virginia.

The earliest printing presses in Europe, from the time of Johannes Gutenberg and his associates Peter Schöffer and Johann Fust, were constructed primarily out of wood. Using similar technologies as contemporary agricultural presses (for winemaking, papermaking, olive oil extraction, and linen pressing), these 15th century printing presses used a wooden screw to lower a heavy wooden plate onto a bed holding cast metal type. The screw was turned by pulling a lever, or "bar" (also called the Devil's Tail ;-). Wooden common presses remained in use until the early 1800s, when iron handpresses and new types of cylinder and platen presses were developed.

View fullsize

Josef Beery demonstrating UVA's wooden common press.

UVA’s common press was constructed in the 1970s, as a result of research at the Smithsonian Institution on the "Franklin" common press. It is on display in the Harrison Small Building’s South Gallery. Though the bar is kept locked for safety most of the time, you can still walk right up to the press and examine much of its design and function. Occasionally, folks associated with UVA’s Rare Book School offer working demonstrations.

The session I attended last week was lead by Josef Beery ~ book designer, letterpress printer, woodcut artist, papermaker, educator, and cofounder of the Virginia Arts of the Book Center in Charlottesville. A practitioner of the printing arts for many decades, Beery is a perfect guide to the history and use of this fascinating press.

When you finish marveling at the wooden common press, head downstairs to the Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library. A highlight of the Library’s wonderful collection of rare books and manuscripts (including significant holdings in the history of books and printing) is a rare first-printing of the Declaration of Independence, printed the night of July 4th by John Dunlap. It’s on permanent display along with many other early printings of the document (the world’s most comprehensive collection of these) near the Library’s entrance.

If you're ever in the vicinity of Charlottesville, Virginia, don't miss this chance to see the common press, the Declaration of Independence, and many other artifacts of printing-circa-1776!

* For more information on early American printing history, visit the American Printing History Association (APHA) website.

* To follow the fascinating process of reconstructing a wooden common press, visit Seth Gottlieb's blog post series at APHA.

* Watch Josef Beery demonstrating the traditional method of using ink balls to apply ink to the type on a common press:

Josef Beery using traditional ink balls to apply ink to the type on the University of Virginia's replica wooden common press.

Printing a Poem on the Handpress

One of our chief passions here at the Press is traditional letterpress printing — using some of the techniques, equipment, and materials that have been used since Johannes Gutenberg and his team first developed moveable type and printing presses in Europe around 1450. 

We enjoy being a part of that long historical lineage, learning the skills and passing along the wonder of the printed word. Our latest project, a little chapbook of poems called “Reverie,” has given us the opportunity to produce a book entirely on the circa-1915 iron handpress, affectionally named “Ben” (for Ben Franklin, of course). 

Here is a series of photos that will walk you through the printing of one sheet of one poem for this one book. By the time we finish the edition, we will have enacted this same process about 1,260 times. Good thing we love what we do!

All best to all, 

St Brigid Press

"Ben," our circa-1915 iron handpress.

This is the poem we're printing today...

...locked up securely on the bed of the press.

Next we hang the paper-to-be-printed on the tympan.

Folding the frisket over the tympan...

...which protects & holds-in-place the paper to be printed.

Next, we charge the roller with ink...

...and carefully roll it over the type to ink the letters.

Then, we fold the tympan & frisket (with the paper sandwiched between) over the press bed...

...and roll the bed under the platen (heavy iron piece with "waffle weave").

Now we pull the bar, transferring downward pressure so the paper finally meets the inked type underneath.

We roll the press bed out again, and begin to lift up the tympan & frisket.

Opening the frisket cover to find...

...a poem has been printed! Hooray!!

Printing Presses at St Brigid Press

Greetings Friends! With the pressroom here at SBP now rounded out with four vintage presses, we thought you might like a closer look at the marvelous machines that do the heavy work of printing everything from coasters to books. I've created a new page on this site that gives a brief description and a couple of photos of each press.

To learn a little more about the 3000+ pounds of cast iron and steel, click here: Printing Presses at SBP.

With thanks, and all best to all,

St Brigid Press

A New Press and a New Space

Warm greetings to all from St Brigid Press! There is much news to share here, beginning with the homecoming of a new (old) printing press ~ a Golding Pearl Number 3, built in Franklin, Massachusetts in 1909.

A couple of adventurous friends and I trekked to Florida at the end of April to visit Gary Johanson, a delightful printer, artist, musician, and techie who had lovingly restored this press over the past few years. Found derelict in a Florida barn, the machine was lucky to have been discovered before rusting into oblivion. Gary spent untold hours dismantling, cleaning, restoring, and reassembling, and she is now in very good working order ~ has even finished several printing jobs already, all with her native excellence and elegance!

As you can see, this press has a flywheel and treadle (reminds me of my mother's old Singer sewing machine), which means that multiple prints can be made in relatively short order. When she gets rolling, the Pearl operates smoothly and quietly ~ much more so, in fact, than the desktop laser printer in my office! Here's to the continuing relevance, ingenuity, and artistic capabilities of some of the 19th century's technologies!

Paste the link below in your browser's web address field to see a ridiculously unprofessional short video clip of this press in action (hope to make a better one soon) ~

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stbrigidpress/6976307112/in/set-72157629920341693/

With the addition of the Pearl, it became clear that St Brigid Press was straining at the seams of her original space (a very small, enclosed room in the basement, which nonetheless has very good lighting, a window, and a utility sink ~ also the washer/dryer, a long cabinet/counter, and, at night, the dog!). So, with that realization we began to plan how the larger, open portion of the basement (with walk-out door and big window looking south) might serve the needs of the Print Shop.

After extensive excavations of various piles of "stuff" everywhere, the walls and floor-spaces of this room came into view. Last week, I applied blue foamboard to the cinderblock walls, to help moderate summer and winter temps (and to provide a nice place to attach posters, photos, cork, etc.), and this week I hope to paint the sheetrocked wall a nice warm color. A dark and dingy basement this will hopefully not be!

Next challenge ~ moving all the presses and equipment into their new places in the "new" space.

Many thanks to all for your continued interest and support of St Brigid Press, and best wishes for the remaining weeks of Spring.

Blessings,

Emily

The New (Old!) Printing Press, part

Here is the little press on its stand in my studio (quite the adventure wrangling the 200 pound piece of cast iron out of the car, onto a makeshift dolly, and into the basement room, but we managed!).  The bed of the press, the flat part where the moveable metal or wood type is arranged and locked and upon which the paper to be printed is placed, measures 12"X18". When the crank is turned, the bed moves under the cylinder and "presses" the paper onto the inked type. Voila! A print!

On New Year's Day I pulled a first print, which you can see in the above picture (sort of). The image is of an old clipper ship. The text is the first line of one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems: "There is no Frigate like a Book..." (The whole poem is viewable at the bottom of this post.)

The Happy Printer:

A poem by Emily Dickinson:

"There is no frigate like a book

To take us lands away,

Nor any coursers like a page

Of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of toll;

How frugal is the chariot

That bears a human soul!"

The New (Old!) Printing Press, part 1

  Here is a look at St Brigid Press' very first printing press, the Poco  Proof Press, made in Chicago, circa 1910. These two images were sent to me by the gentleman I bought the press from, John Falstrom in Connecticut. A delightful, extremely knowledgeable man, John spent hours showing me this press, as well as his outstanding print studio with Golding presses and equipment of all sorts, and teaching me the basics. His wife, Angie, is an amazing watercolor artist, and together they comprise the fine arts studio "Perennial Designs" (take a look at their wonderful website, listed to the left under "Friends of St Brigid Press" links).