We collected this happy lot from Tonge, near Sittingbourne yesterday.
Definitely more than enough to be getting on with:
Ajax Flatbed / Quarto Press
This came as part of a letterpress haul I picked up yesterday. It’s most definitely in need of some tlc:
There are also a couple of chases lurking for this, so hopefully I’ll be able to get it back to full working order.
The British Letterpress site has some useful information on the press here:
As well as a picture of how the press should look:
Lady Audley’s Secret Exposed – booklets
For the past couple of months, I have been working on a series of booklets for the ICVWW at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Eight entries were typeset, hand-printed on our Victorian Minerva Platen. Here are the results:
The project blog is available here: http://ladyaudleysecret.com
Minerva Print Run
At the moment, I’m stuck into the printing of inner pages for our project in conjunction with the ICVWW at Canterbury Christ Church University (www.ladyaudleysecret.com).
After a bit of wrestling with the press (it had been moved slightly and the fly wheel was squiffy), we got through out necessary print run of the winning entry by Jessica Cox:
Women Compositors – The Victoria Press
This is one of those rare times where my nerdy obsession with collecting print ephemera turns out to have functional use for my thesis.
This print shows women working as compositors at the offices of the Victoria Press in London.
I must do some more research into this, but here are the images:
Typesetting Fun – ICVWW Braddon Project
At the moment I’m gearing up for a project in collaboration with the ICVWW at Canterbury Christ Church University.
After the success of Letterpress Reimagined last year, this time we are heading a bit further back in time, to the writing of Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915).
We’re running a creative writing competition which encourages entrants to submit a 150 word piece on events surrounding Braddon’s best known text, Lady Audley’s Secret (1862). Full information is here.
Eight winners will have their entries letterpress printed in a booklet bound by the wonderful Anna Fewster. Winners will also be able to take part in the printing process via a special workshop using the ICVWW’s Minerva Platen press (ran by me – haha!).
An overall winner will receive free entry to the forthcoming ICVWW 2nd International Conference.
You can see some of the entries we have received over at the project blog. And, if I go quiet in May, you can be sure I’m holed up somewhere having typesetting fun!
Anna and I during the 2014 Letterpress Reimagined project workshops.
Checking page registration for the Sissinghurst poem booklets for Letterpress Reimagined.
Mystery Dickens(?) Plate
We found this in a junk shop in Margate this past Saturday. On the back, it says “Dickens”, but I have no clue as to which text it could be from.
Should really read some Dickens, perhaps.
Lady Audley’s Secret – Letterpress Project
I’m currently taking part in a project funded by Canterbury Christ Church University, to print entries for this competition:
The project blog is ladyaudleysecret.com
Latest Acquisition: Baltimorean #10 Press
My good friends over at Briarpress helped me identify this, my latest treasure, as:
“a Baltimorian” #10 by J.F.W. Dorman Company. 1885-1904
(Or a “Baltimore” #10 by Baumgarten & Co. 1895-1900 as they are practically identical).
Very helpfully, the post also included these links to some very handy press identification sheets. I am indebted to Oprion for these:
Part One:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7112/7068179547_8e3b7469a8_o.jpg
Part Two:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7083/6922098424_3860a208e3_o.jpg
“Printing Apparatus for the Use of Amateurs” – Cowper
Here I am, post Sissinghurst, blogging again about some of the print-related ephemera that’s proving especially interesting and useful for my current research.
Today’s link is here, a brilliant e-version of the instructions for the Holtzappel-Cowper press, 1876.
I’m currently writing a paper entitled “Scandalous Documents: Print, Porn and the Parlour Press”, for this conference.
I’ll post the abstract here when I’m done.
Frost in May 
