What is it? . . .
It's a 93 year old printing press! This is the kind of machine that printers used to print communiques in the days before the offset press. Each sheet of paper is hand-fed and stamped leaving a slightly indented impression.

I became interested in the fine art of letterpress printing after taking a class at the San Francisco Center for the Book. One class and I was hooked! My formal education included offset printing, so I was already familiar with the nuances of the printing process. Although the technical aspects of offset and letterpress are different, I immediately fell in love with the beautiful, tactile qualities of letterpress printing.

What started as a hobby, turned into an obsession—and now a thriving business. I launched 1915press.com in January of 2006.

ABOUT OUR LETTERPRESS
All of our cards and communiqués are printed by hand on our vintage Chandler & Price letterpress, circa 1915.

The press was originally configured to run off of a steam-driven pulley system, but is now operated by a foot treadle. Everything about it is manual, from putting the plate into the chase, to inking the rollers and hand-feeding the paper—one sheet at a time.