Letterpress Alive in U.K.!

 Equipment and Suppliers 
Exhibitions,
Open Studios, etc		Organisations
and Societies
Courses,
Workshops, etc.		Some active
Letterpress Printers
 Help/Info        Other links 

Letterpress is still alive in the United Kingdom. There are still commercial printers using letterpress, especially for labels and numbered forms, etc. There are still some universities and colleges with letterpress equipment for student use. There are still private and fine presses producing books by letterpress. There are still many small 'hobby' printers with letterpress equipment, and interest in letterpress is slowly reviving as people realise the pleasure that can be derived from the physical placement of type and its subsequent impression onto paper.....

The purpose of this site is to provide some information about letterpress activity in the United Kingdom. There has already been an awakening in North America, with several Centers for the Book as well as many Book Arts courses in colleges and universities, but this is less advanced in the U.K. and mainland Europe. Sadly, also, the number of suppliers of type is dwindling, as the founders retire and few people come forward to replace them, but as you will see below, new type is still readily available.

This list does not try to be definitive, and also is deliberately small-scale for ease of loading and viewing, and so is only a limited selection of what is available in the United Kingdom. Please send any comments, corrections, suggestions for inclusion, etc to AlembicPrs@aol.com

Letterpress equipment and supplies in the U.K.

PressesPaper, inks, etcType and typesettingRollersBlocks and platesBookbindingMonotype Linotype, Ludlow, etcPrinters' Removals Note that eg The British Printing Society's Small Printer, and Mike Phillips' The Printer (e-mail the editor at theprinter4918@hotmail.com) carry advertisements, and classified ads for letterpress. The Briar Press has a sales and wants section which often includes UK items. In addition, there are suppliers of letterpress sundries such as NA Graphics (e-mail for a catalogue), American Printing Equipment & Supply Co, in U.S. and Drucken & Lernen in Germany (e-mail for a list), and there are type foundries in U.S., Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, India, etc. who will send to U.K. customers. On-line auction sites such as e-bay also sometimes feature U.K. sales of used equipment, etc.

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Organisations and Societies in U.K. with an emphasis on letterpress

There are other U.K. organisations and societies with an interest in letterpress shown under the general Links

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Courses and Workshops on letterpress in U.K.

Exhibitions, Open Days, Book Fairs in U.K. in 2008

In addition, some museums have regular or occasional demonstrations of letterpress equipment, for example Amberley Museum, Blists Hill Museum, the British Library, the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, The Printing House Museum, Robert Smail's Printing Works, etc. The Type Museum has an Open Day on the first Wednesday of each month (n.b. the Type Museum is temporarily closed).

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Some active Letterpress Printers in U.K.

These links are to some of the Presses whose web sites include pictures of their equipment. Many other Presses can be found from the UK Private Presses site.

Some U.K. sources of help and/or information

or try the archive of letterpress discussion, as the group has U.K. members. Or even mail your query to LETPRESS@UNB.CA after joining the group. Join by sending the message SUBSCRIBE LETPRESS xxx (where xxx is your name) to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UNB.CA

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Links to some other letterpress related sites

This list is only a very small selection of what is available, and for example Briar Press, Ton Cremer, and Dave Tribby all have a much fuller list of links.

Last updated 20 July 2008 ..... ..... ..... ..... Comments to David Bolton AlembicPrs@aol.com