An entry · Work · Life
Letterpress Printer
Ink, metal, and pressure. A page you can feel with your fingertips, made by a person.
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.
Work it
Do the work.
Jobs, apprenticeships, and training that put a person in the room.
Ways in
- Course
Learn at a print shop or studio
Composition, lockup, and running a press, taught hands-on.
- Route in
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.
Ways in, gathered by hand.
Add yours to the atlasLive it
Live the hour.
Experiences, classes, and places where the presence is the whole point.
On now
- Workshop
Print your own wood type poster
The Arm
A working Brooklyn print shop; hands-on classes setting metal and wood type on real presses.
- Workshop
Letterpress printing workshops at Bowne & Co.
South Street Seaport Museum
Set type and pull your own print on a 19th century press at the museum's working print shop.
Ways in
- Workshop
Letterpress workshop
Set a line of type and print your own cards in an afternoon.
- Open day
Print-shop open day
Watch the presses run and smell the ink; many studios open their doors.
Ways in, gathered by hand.
Add yours to the atlasKept nearby
