my first letterpress

A question from Erika, an etsy client who bought the letterpress poster I designed for PCBA's 2007 Book Arts and Printers' Fair


was where I purchased my first letterpress . . .

I had taken a few classes at San Francisco Center for the Book and fell in love with it, but wasn't quite ready to take the plunge into purchasing my own when Suzie, a fellow student at the Center, emailed me that she forgot she had been bidding on a 3x5 Kelsey on ebay and had purchased a 5x8 and ended up with both! She gave me an extra special deal of $80 and she had already outfitted it with everything but the rollers, so I couldn't pass it up!

I had cotton candy dreams of printing everything with my 3x5, but after a few weeks of tinkering, have found it very useful for many things, but alas, not everything!

Here are a couple of prints that work well with my 3x5 . . .

My thank U cards, the "U" was actually printed on the 3x5, it doesn't have the indent that most letterpress lovers like, but it gives it a nice textured screenprint effect. The pressure needed to press the 4 inch wood type letter is impossible to get on a 3x5, the best even pressure I get is usually about 1"x3".


The "thank" in this one is also printed on the 3x5, but for the majority of them, I rented a Vandercook at SFCB, which took much less time and the precision alignment was much easily controlled.

What the 3x5 press is fantastic for is printing very small items, like the 2" seed packets on the back of my "notes to grow on" series.


I also bring it to my introductory typography classes, it really gives the students an understanding of what "leading" really is and they really enjoy pulling their own print!

I also picked up a 6x10 Kelsey last year, and have to play with it and order new rollers, which is the usual required purchase with any table top press that has not been in use. NA Graphics carries all the supplies you will need for getting a table top press to function. I hope to be able to spend some time soon with my larger press, but due to my limited time constraints (and overflowing ideas!) I have been renting time on a Vandercook V-4 at SFCB.

The 6x10 is the largest I plan to have, larger presses need more space than I have and I find going to the Center lets me concentrate on my printing and not get distracted by the other things that I "need to get done".

If you are interested in purchasing your own press, here are some options:
1. Ebay, mostly these are from decendants of printers or antique dealers, who mostly do not know anything about the press they are selling
2. Briar Press, mostly printers that are moving up to larger presses and will know details about the press
3. Craigslist, same as Ebay
4. Don Black, have heard from other printers that this is the best place to buy a press in working order, it may take months, but they cater to finding the right press for you, but as with specialized service, it is not as price effective as a "fixer-upper"
5. sfletterpress yahoo list, a yahoo list of hobby and professional printers