p-printing-msg - 5/13/96
Period printing. Building presses.
NOTE: See also the files: paper-msg, parchment-msg, early-books-msg, alphabets-msg, inks-msg, pasteboard-msg, calligraphy-msg.
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Stefan at florilegium.org
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Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: mongoose at yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Conrad Leviston)
Subject: Re: Period "Newspapers"
Organization: Monash University General Access Unix
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1993 06:47:07 GMT
David Schroeder (ds4p+ at andrew.cmu.edu) wrote:
: I've had a chance to do a bit of cursory digging into the matter of
: newsletters, newspapers, or some reasonable facsimile thereof during
: the SCA's favored period(s). The New Columbia Encyclopedia (4th ed.,
: 1975) and Warren Chappell's _A Short History of the Printed Word_
: (1970) indicate that the first newspaper (meaning _regular_ publi-
: cation, not just sporadic appearances) was _Avisa Relation oder Zeitung_
: that started in Germany in 1609. Another early newspaper was _Nieuwe
: Tijdingen_, published in Antwerp in 1616. The first French newspaper
: was the _Gazette_, founded in 1631.
Joy for all those chroniclers out there. Your journals can be
sporadic, it's period!
Cormac Lenihan
--
Conrad Leviston | Got to find a brightness in the soul,
mongoose at yoyo. | Not look outside to find out where we are,
cc.monash.edu.au | Otherwise you won't be satisfied,
Save the gherkin | 'Til you've made possession of the stars. (K.Wallinger)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: hwt at bcarh11a.bnr.ca (Henry Troup)
Subject: Re: Pennsic Chronicle/Tidings
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa, Canada
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1993 13:03:47 GMT
0003900943 at mcimail.COM (Marla Lecin) writes:
|> Just imagine - the "Pennsic Tattler":
The "Known World Weekly News" perhaps?
Have you seen Yosef Alaric's "Pre-Dawn Leftist"?
Someone should do this.
P.S. in a history of printing, I found that battlefield newspapers were some of the first newssheets, and started within the SCA period.
--
Henry Troup - H.Troup at BNR.CA (Canada) - BNR owns but does not share my opinions
From: lyoness at panix.com (Jean Krevor)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Woodblock Printing
Date: 18 Oct 1993 22:58:09 -0400
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
Lhiannan <Lhiannan at f42.n280.z1.fidonet.org> wrote:
{ -=> T. Archer's request for Woodcut bibliography deleted...<=-
I don't know about any books, but I recently attended the Texas
Rennaisance Faire, and one of the high points for me was discovering the
Gutenberg (facimile) press. They will make you a print of several different
woodcuts, and for a small fee, will pour you a piece of your own lead type
as well! They accept volunteers for all seven weeks of the Faire, and
also for the Scarborough Faire in the Spring. I'm not from the Texas
area, so I don't know details. I think it would be quite an educational
experience to work for them for a weekend, and put myself on the list for
more information for next year.
I'm a typesetter for a magazine, so needless to say I was absolutely
fascinated to see the roots of my trade at work! The company's name is
"The Printer", address 3200 S. John Redditt Dr., Lufkin, TX 75901.
Telephone: (409) 637-7468, FAX (409) 637-1480. Perhaps you could call
them and they could give you some practical advice!
I truly hope I've been of some small service with this information.
I remain,
Elizabeth Camerona nicIan
Jean Krevor (lyoness at panix.com)
Oh, I should add the disclaimer that neither do I work for "The Printer,"
nor do I receive financial remuneration for my mention of them here.
I've left the bibliography Lhiannan wrote intact for those who didn't see
the original post -- it was a while ago. Sorry for the length...
> "Prints from Linoblocks and Woodcuts," Manly Banister. Sterling Publishing
> Co., Inc. (New York); Oak Tree Press Co. Ltd. (London & Sydney).
>
> "The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer," Willi Kurth (ed.). Dover
> Publications (New York).
> (sorry, lost the dates)
>
> Not a definitive list, just what was lying about.
> Lhiannan
From: David Schroeder <ds4p+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Gutenburg press type
Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 07:15:05 -0400
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Excerpts from netnews.rec.org.sca: 26-May-94 Gutenburg press type by
Sean Hinckley at f56.n105.z
> Greetings,
> I am looking for plans, designs, blueprints, etc. that show how to
> construct the mold used by Gutenburg to cast the type used with the
> Gutenberg press. Anyone out there have any idea?
Start with:
Joseph Moxon's _Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing_
published by Dover Books. It will have detailed pictures of what
the molds looked like in the mid-1600s. Drop me a note after you've
looked there and I'll send you lots more references!
My best -- Bertram
From: David Schroeder <ds4p+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Gutenburg press type
Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 07:15:05 -0400
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Excerpts from netnews.rec.org.sca: 26-May-94 Gutenburg press type by
Sean Hinckley at f56.n105.z
> Greetings,
> I am looking for plans, designs, blueprints, etc. that show how to
> construct the mold used by Gutenburg to cast the type used with the
> Gutenberg press. Anyone out there have any idea?
Start with:
Joseph Moxon's _Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing_
published by Dover Books. It will have detailed pictures of what
the molds looked like in the mid-1600s. Drop me a note after you've
looked there and I'll send you lots more references!
My best -- Bertram
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Gutenburg press type
From: david.razler at compudata.com (David Razler)
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 04:41:00 -0500
Organization: -=- Compu-Data * Turnersville, NJ -=-
SH>Greetings,
SH>I am looking for plans, designs, blueprints, etc. that show how to
SH>construct the mold used by Gutenburg to cast the type used with the
SH>Gutenberg press. Anyone out there have any idea?
The basic technology is still in use in certain kinds of printing. The first
step is to decide whether you want to directly carve wooden type blocks or
make a set of brass molds from which many sets of lead/antimony alloy sets
of type can be made.
For big fancy letters used once or twice, go the wooden way - get some good
dry hardwood, draw your design, trim away anything you don't want printed
and sand as finely as possible. (note: always make sure all your type is the
same length from the bottom of the piece to the surface you print on
otherwise the higher ones will prevent the paper from coming in contact with
the lower ones - the reason I'm putting it this round-about way is because
to a printer, type height is the height from the foot of a capital M to the
part where the little v-shape comes down to connect the two legs)
For mass production: 1, design or get copies of a typeface you like. 2,
carefully punch each character into a separate block of brass sometiimes by
filing a complete set of steel punches first - these are your master molds.
3, box each of them so they are all level, 4, pour your softer metal into
the molds. It is hellish work. One of the greatest lossess of World War II
were all of the master molds of the German end of Linotype Corp. The
complete library was hit by bombs generating sufficient heat to melt the
brass, which company officials found in a big puddle in the basement,
several levels lower than where it had been stored. It took years to
reproduce them, carving brass is not easy. Another early method was to carve
a set of wooden letters, force sheet brass around them and use them as
master molds, losing detail in the process, but producing type a lot faster.
Ways to cheat: there are two sources of non-period type if you are looking
to get printing rather than type casting. Several firms offer wood and steel
type for flat-bed letterpresses, effectively an improved Gutenberg-style
press used to produce short runs of cheap signs. These are rapidly being
replaced by computer and can be found cheap if you call enough sign shops.
The second is to buy the brass already cast - molds originally built for
Linotype machines. Call Merganthaler-Linotype, I think they're still in
Huntington Long Island 516 area code, and ask who has an old Linotype
rusting away in a basement somewhere. Offer to buy the brass molds, build
your boxes around them and cast the type.
Warning on the above: this is all being written at 2:30 a.m. and I have not
the time to crack my references. Please send personal letters for specific
questions.
Aleksandr the Traveller
[david.razler at compudata.com]
From: ALBAN at delphi.COM
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Printing Press Plans
Date: 19 Mar 1996 00:38:07 -0500
Duncan Alexander Macquarrie asks:
>I was wondering if anyone knew of available scale drawings or
>even plans for a working replica of a wooden printing press.
Kirk FitzDavid responded:
>I have a couple of sources for you on period presses. In about
>1985, Fine Woodworking Magazine had a reconstruction of
>Gutenberg press featured on its back cover. This was built by
>Lewis McClure of Connecticut, who was asked to do the job by
>a small printing company called Lime Rock Press. He tried to
>find plans of the Gutenberg Museum press (in Mainz,
>Germany), but found that the weren't any. So, he made up
>plans himself, based on photos of a duplicate of the Mainz
>press, drawings in Joseph Moxon's "Mechanick Exercises", and
>Ben Franklin's "Common Pr ess" (the last published by the
>Smithsonian). He then built the press. The good part is that
>Lime Rock Press published the plans. The bad part is that they
>only printed 250 copies, and they cost $100 apiece in 1986 (when
>I got #110). The book is folio sized, and the drawings are
>excellent. . . . .
>The McClure Press, by Lewis McClure. Published 1984 by Lime
>Rock Press , Mount Riga Road, Box 363, Salisbury, Connecticut,
>06068. Phone: 203-435-2236 (note: That phone number is 12
>years old. I'd call information myself.)...
>"Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing", by Joseph
>Moxon, edited by Herbert Davis and Harry Carter. Dover
>Publications, Inc, New York, 1978, ISBN 0-486-23 617-X. This is
>an unabridged republication of the 1962 Oxford University
>Press edition. The book was originally printed in 1684, and
>presses really didn't change much after the first 50-100 y ears, so
>it is probably a pretty good near-period reference.
I'll add my couple of cents' worth:
There is one other book that meets the criteria: Elizabeth Harris
and Clinton Sisson, _The Common Press_, Boston; David R.
Godine Pubisher. 1978. ISBN 0-87923-211-0. Wonderful book; it
includes a cutting list, plans, instructions, and even occasional
illustrations on how to make things like the spindle....The
book's centered around a Common Press of the type Ben
Franklin was thought to have used, which is more or less close
enough to the Gutenberg Press that you won't have to worry too
much. If you're looking for a strictly Gutenberg Press Authentic
in All Details, sorry, I can't help you - but the Common Press is
very, very close. The authors took measurements off of the
Smithsonian Institution's Common Press, the one that legend
says Franklin used; they took it apart for one of its periodic
inspections, and took measurements, and put the sucker back
together again - so the plans and such are reasonably close to
what should be, down to even the types of wood used in various places.
I second Master Kirk's suggestion about Moxon's _Mechanick
Exercises_; it's the first complete book on the art and science of
printing ever published, and also includes sections on making
type, compositing, the whole nine yards.
I also have, in the depths of my library, several old issues of the
_Journal of the Printing Historical Society_, published in
England, ISSN (the serials equivalent of the ISBN) 0079-5321,
which may also be of use to you if you can track it down, it being
a British publication.
(Kirk? I'll show you mine, if you show me yours. Both seem to
be good books......)
Side note: You might want to also send your inquiry to: Division
of Graphic Arts, Museum of American History, Smithsonian
Insitution, Washington, D.C. 20001. Elizabeth Harris, one of the
authors of the book I mentioned, works there, unless she's
recently retired, or try Stan Nelson, ditto, who was my printing
guru the four summers I volunteered there.
Hint: When you start making the press, finding wood for the
main uprights is going to be difficult; they're on the order of 7
inches by 9 inches by 7 feet. You're going to need to laminate
them: OR do what I did. Find a place that sells railroad ties.
There's a place across the river from St. Louis that buys them
green, treats them with preservatives, and sells them to railroad
companies, landscapers, and such. I bought two, untreated, for $6
each. 230 pounds of wood per tie, for $6.....Of course, I needed a
chainsaw to cut 'em down to the right size for the press (and, so
far, that's all I've done for the press....) - but the chainsaw I
already had.
Ummm, what are you going to print on the press? Metal type?
Wood type? Woodcuts? Plates? I'd be interested in finding out
where you go with this.
Alban
<the end>