Bosshard's Printing Primer
The Letterpress Pages
A Personal History
Pretty close to forty years ago I picked up a book in the local public
library about a girl who found a discarded printing press, hauled it home
in her wagon, and proceeded to print her own private newspaper. What magic
that story held! It became my heartfelt wish to follow her example - there
was ink in my veins from that very first reading.
Unfortunately, I didn't find any old presses laying around - though I searched
high and low. Eventually I received my first printing press as a Christmas
present; a tiny tin machine with a cylinder that held several lines of rubber
type. I was a printer at last! My newspaper could only be a few days away
from being a reality! My dreams faded quickly as I learned the difficulties
involved in printing anything meaningful on 3" x 5" sheets of
paper that had only 3 or 4 lines of text on them... and that was difficult
to read. Sadly, after weeks of failed attempts, that first press ended up
virtually unused in its box, up on the closet shelf.
Many years later I was inspired to print a small book of poetry written
by my wife's mother. The type was set by laboriously typing and assembling
the pages into a form that could be printed. I ran the typed sheets over
to the local insty-printer, had him shoot the pages at a slightly reduced
size (so it wouldn't look so much like typing!), and print up a massive
first edition of 50 copies. My wife and I sat around for several nights
collating the sheets, folding them to booklet size, and hand sewing them
into covers. The author was thrilled with our effort and my curiosity about
the world of printing was reawakened.
I remembered seeing a small advertisement in the back of Popular Mechanics
(didn't we all read PM back in the 60s?) and sent off a letter of inquiry
to the advertiser. While waiting anxiously for the response, I happened
to come across a small paperback book - Printing As A Hobby - by
J. Ben Lieberman. Not only did that book tell me that ANYONE could do printing,
it went on to show me how I could start printing with only a small box,
a font of metal type, and a rolling pin! Gee - I had a rolling pin! I was
off and running.
Just a few days later a package arrived from the Kelsey Company. In that
package was their Printers' Supply Book - a genuine wealth of information.
I studied the book for days, trying to figure out just what the heck all
that strange looking equipment was for. Eventually, between the Kelsey catalog
and Lieberman's book, I thought I had enough information to place an order
to Kelsey. Two fonts of foundry type, some spacing material, and a package
of leading material would quickly be delivered to my mailbox, and I'd be
in business!
Lieberman's simple press worked just as promised after I had set the individual
pieces of lead type into the lines of a poem. Grabbing a handful of the
kid's construction paper I slipped sheet after sheet into that little press,
rolled the rolling pin carefully across the top, and withdrew nicely printed
sheets of poetry. I was a printer! Visions of the works I would print danced
madly through my head. Fortunately, my wife's interest in what I was doing
was nearly equal to mine, so we figured out a way to finance the purchase
of a genuine Kelsey Excelsior Letterpress.
The UPS man arrived with my 170 pound package of goodies during dinner,
and dinner never took so long to finish. I had the real article now. A finely
crafted machine to help me in my pursuit of learning the printing trade.
It was a beauty!
Over the next several years I acquired several more letterpresses, dozens
of fonts of lead type, and all the miscellany that helped in producing good
looking printing. I enjoyed the physical task of printing but was tiring
of the variety of work I was producing; letterheads, personal stationery,
business cards, and such. I stepped bravely (or, perhaps, carelessly) into
the world of publishing. I had my press (duBois Zone Press) listed in the
International Directory of Small Presses and, within a few weeks, my mailbox
was filled regularly with author's submissions from around the world. Quite
a bit of it was silly but a fair amount of it was very good writing; writing
that deserved to be presented in a format that would give it a life of its
own. I published broadsides (single unfolded
sheets) and chapbooks (small books, generally of poetry or an essay), primarily
limited by the size of the presses I owned and the time constraints on hand-setting
the type one letter at a time. The duBois Zone press published 43 authors
and veritable heaps of ephemera.
Dave`s Home |
Backpacking | Books |
Boats | Printing |
Diet | Rural Life |
Quotes | Waterfalls
If you notice a problem or something is glaringly missing,
please email me