Letterpress

My first real job out of school was working for a Newspaper.

Plans to be the fourth generation of my family to work in that field were jinxed by a girl and a brush with the fashion industry, but as an 18 year old I was introduced to the world of "cold type" and the wonders of printing.

It is something that has stuck with me and the memories remind me that at the time I witnessed the death of traditional printing as early forms of lithography and later digital took hold.

Recently letterpress has had something of a revival thanks in some small part to bearded hipsters; at least we have something to thank them for.

This video sums up that clash between the traditional and the contemporary: 3D printing being used to produce type that in the past would have been pressed from metal and prior to that carved from wood.

Thanks to my old friend Len Cheeseman for sharing this with me.

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