I
recently stepped back in time and experienced an old art form that is starting
to come back in style: letterpress printing.
I
visited the letterpress printing office of Brian Allen at 923 Franklin Street
in Durham, NC. . I watched this
short video about letterpress to educate myself before I went. That way I wouldn’t be completely clueless
when I got there…
He
is located in the same building as the Scrap Exchange in downtown Durham, which
is part of the Golden Belt District on the east side of Durham. **Just a
warning, if you enter 923 Franklin Street in your GPS it will most likely send
you to the wrong address. It’s better to pull directions right off the Scrap
Exchange website**
As
you enter Brian’s shop, this is the inscription that greets you:
A PRINTING OFFICE
CROSSROADS OF CIVILIZATION
REFUGE OF ALL THE ARTS
AGAINST THE RAVAGES OF TIME
ARMOURY OF FEARLESS TRUTH
AGAINST WHISPERING RUMOUR
INCESSANT TRUMPET OF TRADE
FROM THIS PLACE WORDS MAY FLY ABROAD
not to perish on waves of sound
not to vary with the writer's hand
but fixed in time having been verified in proof
FRIEND, YOU STAND ON SACRED GROUND
THIS IS A PRINTING OFFICE
One
of his vintage letterpresses is an Improved Albion that was manufactured in
London in the 1800’s. The address engraved on the top of the machine, 121 Old
Street, London is an address that still exists.
This
is an example of the iron letters used in an old letterpress like the Albion. I
can now say that I held Helvetica!
Here
is Brian’s business card that he printed himself on this letterpress using the
metal block of letters it is leaning against.
Nicholas
Jenson was a printer in 1472 that produced published works including this page
I had the priviledge of holding. The original book had fallen beyond repair but
this particular page has held on to its existence since 1472. Simply beautiful.
Another
beautifully letterpressed sheet. Brian used to have a subscription service
where he would send his subscribers a piece of letterpress art every month.
This is one piece of art he sent during that time.
In
case you can’t read it, the quote he used says: “We are type designers,
punch cutters, wood cutters, type founders, compositors, printers, and
bookbinders from conviction and with passion, not because we are insufficiently
talented for other higher things, but because to us the highest things stand in
closest kinship to our own crafts.”
Here
is Brian, next to his commercial letterpress that he used for printing wedding
invitations, RSVP cards, programs, book covers, and other art for his
customers.
Examples
of his recent wedding program/invitation work.
This
is his most complicated wedding invitation thus far. Interestingly, it was one
of his first projects.
His
wall of framed letterpress posters. Some of them are pages in books that he did
or covers of books. Some are experiments he conducted for himself. All of them
are exquisite. It saddens me to think that this form of art is not being given
the credit and pursuit it deserves. I would hate to see it go extinct.
At
the end of my visit, we used these block letters to letterpress my name. I ‘did
it myself’ on the Albion so I could say I letterpressed something!
Brian
helped me a lot though. It actually requires a certain amount of strength to
operate—strength that I didn’t have, so he helped me with the harder parts. I
now have this poster to hang on my wall.
If
you want to visit Brian’s shop yourself, you can shoot him an email at
brian@artisanprinter.com or you can call him at 919.609.8992.
Thank
you for the hospitality and sharing your very unique world with me Brian!
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