An entry · Work · Life
Letterpress Printer
Ink, metal, and pressure. A page you can feel with your fingertips, made by a person.
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.
Explore experiences →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 →
Showing New York, and 21 elsewhere are hidden
Show every city →Work it
Do the work.
Jobs, apprenticeships, and training that put a person in the room.
Places to begin
- Association
Amalgamated Printers' Association
Join the Amalgamated Printers' Association
United States
A national fellowship of letterpress printers since 1958; members trade work at the annual Wayzgoose.
- Residency
Center for Book Arts
Book Artist in Residence
New York, NY · Awarded each year
A year of 24 hour access to the Manhattan presses, a stipend, and every course waived.
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.
Places to begin
- Workshop
The Arm
Print your own wood type poster
Brooklyn, NY
A working Brooklyn print shop; hands-on classes setting metal and wood type on real presses.
- Workshop
South Street Seaport Museum
Letterpress printing workshops at Bowne & Co.
New York, NY
Set type and pull your own print on a 19th century press at the museum's working print shop.
- Workshop
Center for Book Arts
Letterpress I: basic press operation
New York, NY · Weeknight evening series and weekend intensives
Five weeknight evenings learning to run and look after the presses, or a weekend of type and photopolymer printing, at a Manhattan book arts center founded in 1974.
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 atlasWhy 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
