An entry · Work · Life

Letterpress Printer

Ink, metal, and pressure. A page you can feel with your fingertips, made by a person.

Find training Try an experience Meet the craft Before you go

A letterpress printer's hands holding a row of wooden type — Photograph · documented by hand

From curious to committed

Your first steps.

A first visit can be enough. It can also be the beginning.

Meet the craft

Set a line of type and print your own cards in an afternoon.

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Give it another afternoon

Notice what you want to come back to. Ask the teacher what regular practice would look like, and what support you would need.

Keep a note for next time →

See the working day

Composition, lockup, and running a press, taught hands-on.

Explore ways into the work →

These are starting points. A workshop is not a professional qualification. Entry requirements and recognised training depend on the work and the country.

Before you walk in

A few things worth asking the host before you book.

Is this session suitable for someone who has never tried it?
What should I bring, wear or prepare?
What is included, and are there any extra costs?
Can you accommodate my access needs?
What could I try next if I enjoy it?

Teach this craft? Share what beginners ask you →

Work it

Do the work.

Jobs, apprenticeships, and training that put a person in the room.

Places to begin

Ways in

Learn at a print shop or studio
Composition, lockup, and running a press, taught hands-on.
Course
Book arts and printing program
Formal training where the old presses still run.
Route in
Rent press time
Once trained, studios rent the presses by the hour.
Route in

Ways in, gathered by hand.

Add yours to the atlas

Live it

Live the hour.

Experiences, classes, and places where the presence is the whole point.

Places to begin

Atlanta1 place

Explore the Atlanta guide

Atlanta Printmakers Studio
Letterpress Classes and Tiny Press Sessions
Multi-week classes and short workshops
Set metal type, lock up a form and pull prints on antique presses at this nonprofit community print shop just south of Atlanta.
Class

Austin1 place

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Austin Book Arts Center
Letterpress One
Six weekly evening sessions
Set type and pull prints on a vintage press over six evenings, learning the craft well enough to keep making your own work in the open studio.
Course

Boston1 place

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Reflex Letterpress
Intro to Letterpress Printing
Set metal type by hand and pull your own prints on antique presses at a working letterpress shop in Charlestown.
Class

Chicago1 place

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Spudnik Press Cooperative
Letterpress Printing Classes
Multi-week courses, year-round
Set metal and wood type by hand and pull your own prints on real presses at this friendly community print studio in Chicago.
Class

Denver1 place

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Shop at MATTER
Thursday Letterpress Night
Every Thursday evening
Drop in on Thursday evenings to set type and pull your own prints on vintage presses at this beloved RiNo letterpress studio.
Workshop

Detroit1 place

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Signal Return
Letterpress Workshops at Signal Return
Recurring, Thursday to Sunday
Set lead type by hand and pull your own prints on vintage presses at this beloved community print shop on Detroit's east side.
Workshop

Houston1 place

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The Printing Museum
Letterpress Workshop
Set movable type by hand and pull your own prints on the museum's vintage presses.
Workshop

Minneapolis1 place

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Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Letterpress Printing Basics
Seasonal workshops
Set metal type by hand and pull your own prints on a real press at the nation's largest book-arts center in Minneapolis.
Workshop

Nashville1 place

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Hatch Show Print
Block Party Letterpress Workshop
You ink hand carved blocks and pull your own poster inside one of America's oldest working letterpress shops.
Workshop

New York3 places

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Philadelphia1 place

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Common Press at Penn Libraries
Print the Declaration on a handpress
Fridays through 2026
Set historic metal type and pull your own printed copy of the Declaration of Independence on a cast iron handpress, free and open to all.
Workshop

San Francisco1 place

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San Francisco Center for the Book
Letterpress Printing Workshops
Set metal type and pull prints on a hand fed press at a center that runs hundreds of letterpress and bookbinding workshops each year.
Workshop

Seattle1 place

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Partners in Print
Letterpress Classes at Partners in Print
Intro classes, 8-week courses, Friday socials
Ink up an antique press and pull your own printed pieces with a Seattle nonprofit keeping the letterpress tradition alive.
Class

Amsterdam1 place

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Grafische Werkplaats Amsterdam
Set type and print on a letterpress
Hand-set wooden and lead type and pull your own prints on a real letterpress with a designer printer.
Course

Barcelona1 place

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L'Automatica
Set movable type at L'Automatica
Saturday workshops, recurring
This self-run print shop rescued its old presses and now teaches you to set lead type and pull your own printed sheet on a real letterpress.
Workshop

Berlin1 place

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Hello Letterpress
Set Metal Type and Print by Hand
Print Club evenings and full-day sessions
Hand-set wooden and lead letters and pull your own prints on a hand press in a Friedrichshain studio, with no design or printing experience required.
Workshop

Dublin1 place

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National Print Museum
Set metal type by hand and print on an Adana tabletop press
Six hour adult workshop, dates on the museum calendar
The museum's adult workshop programme starts you at the type case, then puts you on an Adana 8x5 to print your own card.
Workshop

Lisbon1 place

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Meet Art Studio
Carve and Print a Linocut by Hand
Thursday and Friday evenings
Draw, carve and ink your own linoleum block in a Lisbon art studio, then pull hand-printed copies to take home from a craft anyone can pick up.
Workshop

Melbourne1 place

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Hungry Workshop
Letterpress Printing Workshop
By arrangement for small groups
Ink up antique wood type and a hand-fed press in this Brunswick East studio to print your own poster or notebook the old-fashioned way.
Workshop

Montreal1 place

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L'imprimerie centre d'artistes
Set type and print letterpress by hand
Learn typography and printing one on one at this Montreal artist-run print centre, inking real presses to pull your own pages.
Course

Toronto1 place

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Flycatcher Press
Letterpress Printing Workshop
Set type and pull your own prints on vintage presses in a heartfelt little letterpress shop in Toronto's east end.
Workshop

Vancouver1 place

Explore the Vancouver guide

Porchlight Press
Intro to Letterpress Printing
Recurring workshop dates
Set metal and wood type by hand and pull your own printed cards on a vintage Vandercook press at this longtime Vancouver letterpress studio.
Workshop

Ways in

Letterpress workshop
Set a line of type and print your own cards in an afternoon.
Workshop
Print-shop open day
Watch the presses run and smell the ink; many studios open their doors.
Open day

Ways in, gathered by hand.

Add yours to the atlas

Why the human is the point

Print went instant and weightless, and a few people kept the slow, heavy, beautiful way alive. The letterpress printer sets type by hand, letter by backward letter, inks it, and presses it into paper hard enough to leave a bite you can feel. Every sheet is a small physical event. It is the opposite of a file: limited, tactile, and made by a person who chose each character. Some words deserve to be pressed into the page, not just displayed on it.

Kept nearby

Elsewhere in Human Authorship

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