LETTERPRESS PRINTINGA br ie f history of moveable type relief printingResearch and design by Caroline Hartig

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To unders tand let terpress pr in t ing, one must look at two essent ial aspec ts of pr in t ing his tor y: moveable t ype and the process of rel ief pr in t ing.

The f i rs t sys tem of moveable t ype was created by Bi Sheng around 1040 AD. As the name impl ies, moveable t ype consis t s of a ser ies of le t ters and charac ters car ved or molded indiv idual ly, so as to retain the abi l i t y to be arranged and rearranged to create words and paragraphs.

Rel ief pr in t ing refers to a process in which a reversed image or block of tex t is embossed upon a sur face, inked, then pressed to paper. The resul t is a r ight - reading page.

What is let terpress pr int ing?

The f i rs t pr in t ing press, known as a let terpress, was invented in the mid - f i f teenth centur y by German

publ isher Johannes Gutenberg. The idea was inspired by his exper ience wi th wine presses in his nat ive c i t y

of Mainz. I t employs a “t ype - high bed” pr int ing press and a sys tem of indiv idual ly cas t, reusable let ters

set together in a f rame. The f rame holds the let ters together, keeping them s teady as they are inked and

set to the page. The process al lows for the creat ion of mul t ip le ident ical pages that could then be correla ted

to mass produce books and pamphlets.

Al though Bi Sheng’s f i rs t moveable t ypes were made of f ragi le c lay and porcelain, Gutenberg’s f i rs t

le t terpresses were made of wood, and the charac -ters etched in to wooden blocks. The blocks were

arraged in to the page f rame and inked by bal ls of ink wrapped in leather; the paper then laid across the

inked t ype by hand and s l id under a padded sur face. Pressure was appl ied f rom above by a screw sys tem.

Over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centur y, the Indust r ial Revolu t ion saw the gradual evolut ion of the let terpress to become s t reaml ined and ef f ic ient.

The screw was replaced by a mechanized hinge that dropped and rose; th is great ly increased the speed of page produc t ion and reduced physical ef for t on the par t of pr in t workers. Leather - bound ink bal ls were replaced by ink rol lers, fur ther eas ing and speeding the process. With the addi t ion of a mechanical paper feed, human exer t ion in the pr in t ing process was minimal and the let terpress was operat ing at maximum ef f ic iency.

In addi t ion to the evolu t ion of the t radi -

t ional let terpress, rotary presses were developed dur ing this t ime. Rotary

presses were used for high -speed, high - quant i t y produc t ion,

most commonly in the produc t ion of overnight newspapers.

Paper is wrapped around a large drum, and the ent i re form of the des ired t ype is cas t

in a paper -mache mix ture cal led “f long.” Once i t dr ies, the f long is bent in to a cur v ing shape and

pressed agains t a metal pla te to keep i t s form. I t is then inked and rol led agains t the paper drum. Today,

rotary pr in t ing is most of ten used, wi th the subst i tu t ion of rubber pla tes for metal, for cur ved sur faces that are

usual ly awkward for f la t presses to pr in t upon.

Al though let terpress pr in t ing no longer operates on such a large scale, the process remains today as a hobby operat ion. The raised sur face of the let ter forms y ield cr isper pr in ts than this those pr in ted us ing t ypical of f set l i thography, adding greater v isual def in i t ion and a quaint sor t of charm.

Type forms now exis t in a wide array of mater ials t ha t range f rom woodcu t s , photoengraved copper, l inoleum blocks, magnesium plates and zinc metals. Smal l le t terpress shops of ten spec ial ize in inv i ta t ions, s ta t ionary, l imi ted edi t ion books and ar t is t s’ books.