What is Letterpress Printing? (And why do we love it so much?!)

In the beginning, the letterpress printing process would be all done by hand. With someone carefully and painstakingly placing all the letters individually into the plate and inking the plates once in order. Following the industrialisation of the printing industry, parts of the process, such as the ink rolling and paper feeds were automated, and by the mid 20th century the "Original" Heidelberg Platen was born. Much like a lot of the industrial size machines you might see today. You might be familiar with the old typeface letters, often found now in antiques shops and brought to spell out words, initials or sentimental dates to display around the home. Or perhaps you recognise the traditional trays they were stored in? Also a popular find at antiques fairs, and made fashionable as a wall mounted display for small keepsakes in recent years. People seem to treasure these items, to mark a slice of history, or they simply adore the tangible authenticity associated with the craft.

Letterpress printing is one of the oldest printing methods to get word to paper, and continues to be much loved by the printing community and designers alike. Letterpress printing is a relief style of printing dating back to the mid 15th century when Johannes Gutenberg, a German inventor and designer, brought the technique of letterpress printing to Europe.

Primarily, and simply put, letterpress printing involves the placement of individual moveable type into a chase, or a bed, that is then inked, before the paper is then pressed into the letters (hence the name letterpress) to create an impression on the paper.

Our Journey into Letterpress Printing

Our smaller, table top letterpresses, The Adana, (seen here) was originally designed and made for hobbyists. In 1922 in Twickenham, south west London, a man called Donald Aspinall began to manufacturer them and they quickly grew in popularity amongst the printing community.

Following the sale of the company’s assets from Aspinall, to engineer and friend, Frederick Ayers in 1940, the company relaunched and continued to grow in popularity despite the challenges the War presented. However, with the rise of fascination with household technology, the traditional printing method lost popularity and Caslon Ltd brought the company from Ayers in 1987 and remain the current manufacturers.

Its with Caslon where my story begins with our much loved printing presses.

The Adana Letterpress Printing Machine remains our primary printing machine. We have 3 in our studio and we use it for all of our hand printed cards, all be it, with some modifications.

Back in 2012 I met with Roy Caslon with a need, and desire to support our hand printed card business - then a mere 2 years old. I’d been printing using rubber stamps on wooden bases, the same tactile qualities were achieved however for some of our larger designs the logistics were taking their toll. I’d got repetitive strain injury in my wrists and arms from the need for pressure on some of our larger designs - a first hand understanding of why the letterpress print bed existed and how it was hard to replicate by hand!!

But with a desire to maintain the same bespoke finish and irregularity of each individual card, Roy and I set about working out a way to combine all my requests. He adapted our first Adana to house a perspex plate in the chase rather than the traditional solid letterset found in machines before it. We were then able to apply our rubber stamps directly to the chase which revolutionised our process.

From there, as the machine’s rollers move ink from the ink bed to the chase, we hand insert the cards, and compress the plate to chase in the traditional way. The fact that the stamps are moveable and the card is inserted individually by hand each time, ensures that each and every card is unique in ink coverage, pressure and exact positioning.

For us, this was ideal as we moved from fully hand operated to our adapted letterpress printing method in maintaining the brands unique quality.

What makes Letterpress Printing so special?

Letterpress printing holds a special place in most designers hearts for its tangible nature, intricate process as well as a rich history. Letterpress printing was the chosen process for almost all book printing from its invention right up to the 20th century. It has also been at the centre of a revival amongst artists and designers in later years and remains a best loved technique for many card & stationery brands such as ours.

Perhaps its a sensory thing, the weight of the plates and letters in your hand, the indentation the letters make on the smooth white paper, the sound of the sticky ink in the rollers, it provides a sensory pleasure unlike other modern printing methods.

As we have demonstrated, our technique has been modified over the years, but these sensory stimuli still exist. We recently made a little video of me printing in the studio that demonstrates some of these sensory delights.

You can take a look here.

I believe that Letterpress printing is a method that remains close to the heart of both hobbyists and commercial printers alike, It’s rich in history, it formed the foundations for commercial printing methods and is adaptable and relevant in today’s modern world.

As we move away from digital forms of communication and crave a more tangible method for those meaningful moments, letterpress printed cards make the perfect, accessible option.

Here at Katie Leamon, its that meaningful connection that drives us. Our hand printed cards are made with the highest quality ivory card embossed with a linen finish. Each individually hand printed and vetted for quality and detail to offer an understated, authentic design for those everyday occasions and meaningful moments. Choose from our new hand printed motif cards or select our multi packs of notecards to ensure you've always got a one to hand.