Superior rotary printing press (with video)

Click to watch video

I found this Superior Ace printing press in unused condition; it had never been inked. Amazingly, the bottle of ink was still good! If you're older, you might remember these from your childhood as tedious, messy machines. They are both of those things. But fun anyway… W and I printed out a pair of poems that I wrote in 2012.

These weren't supplied with very many pieces of rubber type—in order to print the second poem, I had to borrow a few esses from the first, removed as you can see in the picture above. The press came with all of the original books and tools. Apparently you could order other typefaces for it…shame I can't send off for them at $1 each set today!

Sent from my Superior Ace printing press

Victorian printing blocks

I found this set of 1 inch printing blocks in an antique store in Oregon early this year for about $50. I don't get them out too often, but when I do it always begins with joy, continues with tediousness, and ends with a rather tired arm and only a few sentences printed!

Based on the style of the typeface, I'm guessing this is from approximately 1890, give or take a decade. I have the complete set except for the lowercase w which is easy to make with a double v. I'm not sure what the original use of this would have been. I'm guessing they were used for signs in a store, possibly, because of the "For" and pointing finger, but it might have been for school or who knows what else.

To my delight, my modern gel ink pad (certainly without question, the best ink pads) smells almost just like the old ink smell this set has.