Letterpress Techniques

MAKE READY Mike Hudson & Jadwiga Jarvis The Wayzgoose Press Katoomba, Australia Private Impressions 6: “Revolution” by Jardwiga Jarvis Letterpress, edition of 60 2000 The real “art” in printing comes in the details: proper letterspacing, placement on the page, and make ready, which refers to the process of building up the printing surface so that the proper amount of pressure is applied by the press. The result: solid blacks, clean lines, no lost areas, no overinked areas. Jarvis discusses proper make ready in this Private Impressions article. The book on display next to it, Weeds and Wildflowers, features an example of an excellent wood engraving printed by a man who knew all about make ready.
TYPOGRAPHY American Type Founders Company Jersey City, New Jersey Specimen Book and Catalogue 1923 Letterpress ruled the printing industry from the time of Gutenberg up until the mid-20th Century, when offset printing became the industrial standard. When letterpress was big business, so was type, and the American Type Founders company was the biggest. Printers and designers would order metal type from ATF through a catalog like this one.
TYPOGRAPHY Type Foundry H. Berthold AG. Berlin, Germany Catalogue of Hebrew and Jewish Types 1924 Type was cast in most every language. And the specimen catalogs were often some of the most beautiful books to be found. Metal type is still made today by a handful of casters, but it’s nothing like the industry it was when companies like Berthold operated numerous plants throughout Germany. Typecasting today has become very much like letterpress printing today: a craft practiced by individuals and very small companies interested in handwork and high quality.
Wood Type  Text weight type is usually cast in metal, but display types, like those used for newspaper headlines, were more often carved from wood. This is the actual forme that was used to print our exhibit poster. The poster was printed in three runs (one for each color of ink) by the Jaffe Collection’s Book Arts Coordinator, John Cutrone, at his letterpress studio: Convivio Bookworks in Lake Worth, Florida.
Line Gauge, or Type Gauge  A line gauge is one of the letterpress printer’s most important tools. Everything in printing is based on mathematical units, and the line gauge provides a measure for these units. More importantly, though, the line gauge helps the printer to adjust spacing and to insure proper registration—essential when working with multiple colors and multiple print runs.
Illustration Cuts  Line drawings can be converted to printing plates made of copper, lead, or magnesium, mounted on wood. These cuts read backwards, too, in order to print correctly. One of the cuts here is an advertisement for Snapper Lawnmowers; it was probably used in a newspaper office. The other cut is a map of the City of Miami.
Composing Stick  Type is set by hand, one letter at a time, in the composing stick. When the composing stick is full, the set type is transferred to a galley tray and tied with string into a forme. The forme is placed in the bed of the press for printing. Notice that the letters in the composing stick are backwards, and are set right to left. Letterpress printing, like all relief printing processes, results in a  mirror-image, so though the metal reads backwards, the printed page will read correctly. The line of type in this composing stick reads LETTERPRESS 101.
Return to Main Exhibition Page