Old-time Presses In A Modern World

Old-fashioned printing techniques are kept alive at historic print shops around the country.

If you're struggling with a less-than-modern press in your in-plant, take heart: Compared with the printers of old, your press is like lightning.

How would you like it if your top press speed was 180 sheets an hour, and setting type for one sheet required half a day of labor? This is what being a printer meant in the 18th and 19th centuries.

But while the wooden presses of Ben Franklin's day have mostly made way for today's high-speed marvels, they're not completely gone. Historic villages and museums around the country keep them alive by operating old-style print shops—in-plants of a sort.

These shops offer modern printers a look at a time before automation changed the art of printing—before new technology was obsolete mere months after its purchase.

One of these old-style print shops lies in the heart of historic Philadelphia. At Independence National Historical Park (INHP), in the Printing Office at Franklin Court, park rangers like Joe Chauncy don period garb and demonstrate how to ink a press using leather-covered mallets called "ink balls" to pound ink onto plates. Then they pull a lever called a "devil's tail" to press the paper onto the raised metal type.

Keeping History Alive

Chauncy feels keeping the craft alive for the people of 2000 is important.

"It's all part of our story," points out Chauncy. "We probably wouldn't have had a Revolution without the press—or at least not [been] so successful." He refers to the role publications like Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" played in stirring patriotism.

Those printers of yesteryear would have salivated at the thought of printing 15,000 sheets an hour on one of today's offset presses. In colonial times, one page every 20 seconds, or 180 sheets an hour, was a good rate—and that was with two men on a press.

"With some things, they could push it to 240 impressions an hour," adds Willie Parker, a printer at Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia. His shop operates two reproduction wooden presses patterned after mid-18th-century equipment. But unlike its predecessors, his shop outputs just 100 sheets a day.

At Genesee Country, in Rochester, N.Y., a slightly more modern press from 1853 is no easier to operate.

"You really can't appreciate everything you do now if you don't know how it used to be done," notes Doug Poole, who ran the print shop at Genesee Country for 20 years and is now program registrar. "When it's 90 degrees, humid, with a lot of visitors and you might be cranking out 300 to 400 pages a day by hand—that's a lot of physical effort."

No Experience Required

Learning how to run one of these old wooden presses isn't nearly as complicated as learning to run a Heidelberg. INHP's Chauncy says the massive old equipment "seems intimidating at first, but one of the beauties of an 18th-century press is how easily this strange-looking machine works. In half an hour you can learn how to print with it."

Which is good, because most of the press operators don't come to the job with prior printing experience.

"I needed a job and this is what was offered," explains Williamsburg's Parker, who served a six-year apprenticeship—just as 18th-century tradesmen did. "It sounded interesting. I've been here in Williamsburg over 30 years and I still can't say I know everything."

Poole, of Genesee Country, has his degree in history and museum studies.

"I picked up the printing when I came to Genesee, but it took years before I was really good at it," he says. He's trained some who were happy just to do demonstrations and others as young as high school age who wanted to learn every nuance.

At Old Sturbridge Village in central Massachusetts, where the print shop mimics that of 19th-century Worcester printer Isaiah Thomas, the staff is trained on site, and people rotate among several of the 40 exhibits.

"They learn the hand skills and historical content," explains Phil Eckert, program coordinator.

INHP's Chauncy says most park rangers have a background in history or the park service, although he says he once worked in the composing room of the Gloucester County Times in New Jersey. He also did an apprenticeship at the park with a master printer.

Operators of these old-fashioned print shops strive for authentic period dress.

"We wear what looks like too many clothes, but they don't slow you down at all," insists Eckert, of Sturbridge. "Nobody's miserable."

Long sleeves are rolled up or secured with arm bands while leather aprons protect against most ink stains.

"You get dirty working with this huge cast iron machine," Eckert says.

Genesee's Poole says he fought with curators initially: "They thought a master printer wore gentlemen's clothes—a white dress shirt, vest, tie and pants. I have a lot of white shirts with black marks. The average printer would have been a journeyman in workingman's clothes."

Williamsburg's costumes have evolved over time. "The material has become more authentic—linen and cotton, rather than synthetics like when I started," Williamsburg's Parker says. The natural fibers breathe "so it's not as hot as people think it might be."

How Times Change

Working conditions were far different in olden times. Eckert, of Sturbridge, says printers could work as much as 70 hours a week—with a pot of rum sitting on the bench to keep them going. "Liquor was a part of life then," he says.

By contrast, the recreated shops generally operate from 10 to 5, with seasonal adjustments—and no grog.

Typesetting was its own arcane art at one time; apprentices spent months learning how to properly sort type before progressing to setting. Eventually, it became second nature.

"It's like typing; you don't look at the type cases," Eckert explains.

(Incidentally, adds Chauncy, of INHP, the fact that capital letters were stored in the "upper case" and small letters in the "lower case" may have led to our use of that terminology today.)

Other steps in the process include composing by hand, locking the cage or frame of type, inking, proofing and printing—mostly one-color with illustrations done by woodcuts or copper engravings. Sometimes spot color would be added, to print an official seal, for example.

The ink of the past was made of water, rosin, lampblack and linseed oil, though Chauncy confesses to using Van Son Holland ink on the press. But he justifies the choice:

"Franklin imported most of his ink from Holland," he explains.

Natural Cleanup Chemicals

Cleanup in the past was a bit different as well.

"The ink would have been cleaned off the type with stale urine," Eckert, of Sturbridge, says, quickly adding: "We use a modern environmental cleaner."

Parker says the original Williamsburg's printers would have used hot lye kept in a large kettle in the fireplace.

"It works quite well, but the safety people won't allow us to have it in the shop or use it in front of the public," he notes. "People might stick their hands in the kettle." Instead, he uses kerosene, or, for more thorough cleaning, a modern solvent.

Hot, humid weather also affected the machinery in those un-air conditioned times. "The biggest problem is how changes in the weather can affect the press," says Williamsburg's Parker, adding, "We have summer inks and winter inks—like using a different weight of oil for your car."

Reproduction Documents

Most of these shops focus on the reproduction of actual documents from a specific time period. Some are used to lend an air of authenticity to the setting; others are souvenirs for sale.

Single sheet documents are the most frequently-produced items on the old presses, with some manual folding and finishing. Williamsburg and Old Sturbridge Village have bookbinders, as well.

Old Sturbridge Village produces broadsheet advertisements, children's books and other gift shop items. Williamsburg prints special resolutions or certificates for its foundation, in addition to reprints of 18th-century documents. Williamsburg's Parker has printed two-color playbills he's proud of, as well as a treatise on gardens with six- and eight-point type.

"I was real happy with that," he says.

Genesee prints posters, broadsides, Shaker seed packages ("a real challenge with tiny sideways type," Poole says) and an eight-page, hand-stitched, hand-folded recipe book.

Historic Documents

At the Printing Office at Franklin Court in Philadelphia, Chauncy says all production is for low-cost souvenirs. Fresh copies of the Declaration of Independence, plus handbills and quotes from Thomas Jefferson or "Poor Richard's Almanac," sit out on a table near his press. The print shop recently produced eight-page copies of Thomas Paine's pamphlet "The American Crisis."

The shop resets the Declaration of Independence every two or three years when the type gets worn down from constant reproduction—especially during the annual July 8 reading of the famous document.

"It's a big challenge," Chauncy says. "I split it with another ranger and it took 30 hours to set 12-point Caslon type by hand. To finally see it come together was very satisfying."

Overall, Chauncy is quite pleased with his work.

"There's so many great stories, and visitors are seeing history come to life for them," Chauncy says. "It's real important to keep the past alive."

Williamsburg's Parker agrees. By keeping the old presses in operation, he says, "You can really appreciate what they were able to do at that time and how modern printing has built upon it. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the quality and amount of work they were able to print out, especially without modern lighting."

—by Janet R. Gross and Bob Neubauer

Presses Of The Past

You may think your old press deserves an award for its age, but some of the presses used in old-style print operations around the country hail from the 19th century.

The shop at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts has two letterpresses—an 1830s Acorn, which had been in the museum collection for about 50 years, and a reproduction of the same vintage used as a proof press, made and assembled on site about three years ago.

Genesee Country in Rochester, N.Y., features an 1853 model #5 Washington hand press.

"We were lucky; it was in pretty good shape when we got it 20 years ago in a used print equipment shop," says Doug Poole, program registrar. "We haven't done much to it over the years—you just oil it and go. It's pretty much indestructible; I think of that every time the computer network goes down," he laughs.

Colonial Williamsburg operates two reproduction wooden presses patterned after mid-18th-century equipment. One was built using modern machinery, but the other, crafted on-site, utilized Williamsburg's resident tradesmen using old-fashioned construction methods.

"Authenticity and accuracy has a lot to do with why we went to the trouble," says Willie Parker. "If you demonstrate printing as done in the 1700s, you want to be as accurate as possible."

At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin's occupation as a printer is revealed through a reproduction 18th-century English common press built in 1976 using wood from a centuries-old barn.

"It works and operates just as any 18th-century press would have, and it's been working well since we began using it," says Ranger Joe Chauncy.

Baltimore's Museum of Industry features several authentic 19th-century machines—an 1828 Hoe's Acorn press on loan from the Maryland Historical Society, an 1870 Prouty "portable" press (Rev. Enoch Prouty designed it to easily dismantle for his traveling ministry), a Chandler & Price-Gordon press, a 1925 Linotype machine used at the federal Bureau of Engraving and several proof presses from the 19th and 20th centuries.

"Printing technology is an excellent example of the positive force of the Industrial Revolution's mass production," says Rob Williams, the museum's volunteer coordinator.

Visiting The Past

Demonstrations of antique printing equipment are offered at the following locations:

• Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Va. (800) HISTORY

• Farmers' Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y. (888) 547-1450

• Genesee Country, Rochester, N.Y. (716) 538-6822

• Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Mich. (313) 271-1620

• Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia. (215) 597-8974

• International Printing Museum, Torrence, Calif. (714) 529-1832

• Museum of Industry, Baltimore. (410) 727-4808

• The Museum of Printing, North Andover, Mass. (978) 686-0450

• Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Conn. (860) 572-5331

• Ohio Village, Columbus, Ohio. (614) 297-2300

• Old Sturbridge Village, Mass. (508) 347-0307