Letterpress
Over the last 20 years there has been a resurgence in the interest of letterpress and printing with metal type. Lead type and old presses sitting in storage or old barns, basements are finding their way back into use in the artist studio and small press shops. There are plenty of new books on the subject, but the technology really hasn't changed over the last 100 years and there are plenty of books out there that are no longer copy righted that can be freely viewed, downloaded and printed.
In addition to the online material, there are several museums dedicated to preserving the rich history of the graphic arts, printing and typesetting technology, and printing craftsmanship. They often offer workshops, libraries and access to hard to find items.
- Museum of Printing in Haverhill Massachusetts - https://www.museumofprinting.org/
- International Printing Museum in Carson California - https://www.printmuseum.org/
- The Printing Museum in Houston Texas - http://printingmuseum.org/
- Gutenberg Museum in Mainz Germany - https://www.mainz.de/microsite/gutenberg-museum-en/index.php
- There are many more around the world, an online search may show one close to where you live
The following is a list of letterpress resources, some I have download, while other are links to documents that can be viewed, or dowloaded.
| Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of Typography by W. Roberts | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25663 |
| The Art and Craft of Printing, by William Morris | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31596 |
| Applied Design for Printers, by Harry Lawrence Gage | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30804 |
| Printing in Relation to Graphic Art, by George French | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54349 |
| The Art & Practice of Typography by Edmund G. Gress | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54476 |
| How to Print by Robert W. Tunis | https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_to_Print/hUFFAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=how+to+print&pg=PA5&printsec=frontcover |
| How to Print by Robert W. Tunis | Download PDF Book |
| American Line Type Book | Download PDF Book |
| American Specimen Book of Type Styles | Download PDF Book |
| Desk Book - Specimens of Type | Download PDF Book |
| The American printer : ... instructions for beginners ... by Thomas MacKellar | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102287479 |
| Modern printing: a handbook of the principles ... | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100641456 |
| The new typography & modern layouts by Frederic Ehrlich | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009128685 |
| The New York Times typographical standards | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006681540 |
| Pittsford's manual for advertisers | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006499398 |
| A practical manual of typography and reference book for printers. | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007691168 |
| Practical printing : A handbook to the art of typography ... | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100108876 |
| Weekly newspaper makeup and typography by Thomas F. Barnhart | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002997122 |
| The letter-press printer : A complete guide to the art of printing | https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001160988 |
| Printing Made Easy - For Users Of Adanda Printing Machines | Download PDF Book |
| Layout California Case | DownLoad PDF |
| Signpress Operating Manual | Download PDF Book |
| Vandercook Manual | Download PDF Book |
| Kelsey - The Printer's Guide | Download PDF Book |
In my search for online books, I found this site to have to the best selection: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
The following is a list of the American Type Founders Education Cards
- The Anatomy Of ATF Type
- Parts of Printing Type
- A Font Of Type
- Popular Type Faces
- Type Identification Aids
- Characters Difficult to Distinguish
- Measuring Type With A Line Gauge
- Spaces Used In Setting Type
- How To Hold The Composing Stick
- How To Read Composed Type
- How To Empty A Stick Full Of Type
- How To Tie Up A Page Of Type
- "Riehlock" Regular Ajustable Tie-Up
- Inking Type Form In Proof Press
- Pulling The Printed Proof
- Cleaning Type Form After Proofing
- Standard Proof Marks
- Example of Marked Proof
- Picking Up A Line To Replace In The Stick For Correction
- How To Hold Type For Distribution
- Different Kinds Of Indention
- Using Alpha-Blox
- How To Set Multiple Justification
- Locking Up A Single Page Form
Additional Letterpress Resources
| Brian Press - A letterpress Community | http://www.briarpress.org/ |
| Boxcar Press - For Letterpress supplies | https://www.boxcarpress.com/ |
| Ladies of Letterpress is an international trade organization for letterpress printers and print enthusiasts | https://ladiesofletterpress.com/ |
| Letterpress Commons - Sharing letterpress printing knowledge for the common good | https://letterpresscommons.com/ |