Letterpress is at the core of our business, and the presses we use are its beating heart. We wanted to write a short history of this revolutionary printing method, when it started and how it continues to endure.
Letterpress printing is a type of relief printing, where a copy is made using a direct impression of an inked raised surface. It is one of the oldest known printing methods, with primitive forms of letterpress originating in China in the second century.
The first printing press was invented in the 15th century by Johann Gutenberg. Back then a wooden block would be delicately carved so each letter was raised, the block would then be inked and then placed on the paper to make its impression. In revolutionising the letterpress printing method, his mechanical machine eventually had moveable type – individually cast metal letters and characters.
The method remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years, and was the main form of printing throughout the world, with the only changes made to improve the ease, quality and speed in which the printing could be done. Other printing methods only began to take the place of letterpress in the second half of the last century, which saw most of the machines sadly discarded. I say most, as we house two such machines that were made in the early 1960’s and they are our everything.
Starting back in the 1980s but increasing in popularity since, the charm of letterpress printing was brought back into focus by printers who wanted the tactile quality feel that the process produced. The original form of letterpress involved a “kiss print” method where the press would only touch the paper enough to transfer the ink, whereas in its revival, enthusiasts were drawn to the deep impression (referred to as “debossing”) that letterpress can make, on soft cards that make it immediately known that it can only be letterpress and nothing else.
As we know well, our traditional printing technique isn’t so much a substitute for modern printing methods but rather a separate art form that is well placed to produce a beautiful tactile product in small quantities. And this, for us, and our valued customers, is part of the main appeal – it becomes much more than the mere information it presents. It helps to take the customer through history to a time when printing was a craft that took time to create.
We work on Heidelberg windmill platen presses. The basic operation has its roots in the earliest forms of printing presses, though on its release became an instant hit in print shops around the world for its speed, robustness and reliability.
An air pump sucks up the paper, is picked up by a rotating gripper (giving the name “windmill”) and placed onto the raised surface which is inked by a roller that moves out of the way just before the press closes and applies a given level of impression onto the paper. We have a machine that has been converted to be able to print with foils as well as inks, and many of our work have both print methods on show on the same finished product.
One of the main charms, for us at least, is that around the edges of the finished product, which has to be sharp, clean and precise, is a sometimes messy and labour-intensive process. The machine is old, it can creak and needs regular oiling, the inks need to be mixed and gets your hands dirty, the noise is sometimes clunky and tweaks to the machine made with various tooling before each print run are commonplace. But the result, the end product that you see, shows no physical evidence of that. You cannot see it, but it is there.
Long may this beautiful art form continue.