Saturday, April 09, 2005


EDO--The way the press worked was that when the jaws opened the operator would take out the printed page with his left hand and insert the new paper with his right. Meanwhile the rollers inked up the type. It never stopped. Then the jaws closed and the rollers inked themselves on the big plate at the top. The flywheel spun; the press whirred; paper flew. I was so scared.

I only printed one job on this kind of press: a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait." I was sure it was the last time I would ever use my right hand.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't forget to go to the Place of the Governors in Santa Fe to see "Lasting Impressions: The Private Presses of New Mexico".

On display are books, broadsides, presses and tools of the printers' craft.

Here is my own place on the net; Speak's Letterpress.

I live in Nob Hill too. See ya around.

johnny_mango said...

Thanks for the info! By the way, to follow the link to Speak's Letterpress go to http://speakspress.net/index.shtml

Anonymous said...

I guess it would be better if I got the URL right. Here you go; Speak's Press.