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In two weeks time I will be installing a Victoria Parallel Platen Press in my workshop here in Inverness. The press, made in Germany in 1932, is a beautiful piece of machinery with a parallel motion that helps provide the same impression all over a ‘pull’. The press also has an excellent inking system, andContinue reading “Victoria Parallel Platen Press”

‘There is a tide in the affaires of men’ are well known words, but maybe not everyone will immediately know that they were spoken by Brutus in Act 4 of Julius Caesar. To me they state that when in life, a chance or opportunity shows itself, one must grab it. It is also said thatContinue reading “The Words of Brutus”

The postman has just arrived with a heavy parcel from America, containing some more ‘Cloister Initials’ that have recently been cast by Typefoundry P22. The matrix must have been from the sale of America Type Founders, back in the 1990s. Although the type is not ‘founders’ type and not as hard as the original fromContinue reading “New Type from the USA”

Captain Ronald Hopwood, Royal Navy published his verse ‘The Laws of the Navy’ in the Army & Navy Gazette in 1898. Based on the rhythm and style of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Laws of the Jungle’, his poem has become a classic within both the Royal Navy and the US Navy. It was also published afterContinue reading “The Laws of the Navy”

Many years ago, when I was running Piccolo Press, I was asked by John Lang, a fellow submariner and most accomplished artist, to produce some cards from a drawing he had done. I made a block of his delightful pen and ink sketch of a ‘P’ or ‘O’ class diesel electric submarine, with our thenContinue reading “Submarine Drawing by John Lang”

I have been very wary of buying printing items on eBay, where the prices are often very inflated and one takes a risk. However, in the last week I have purchased two items that are really special. The large decorated initial B is a very old piece of type, cast by Caslon and is 11emsContinue reading “Two New Printing Blocks”

As a great lover of Gilbert and Sullivan, I thought that the words from the ‘Tanantara’ Policemen’s chorus in Pirates of Penzance, were apt. I therefore printed a card and sent it round a few friends, one of whom responded by reminding me of a much more appropriate quotation from ‘The Gondoliers’. So I haveContinue reading “Two Cheer-up Cards”

Using my ‘Cloister’ decorative initials, cast in lead by American Type Founders (ATF now long since gone) and sets of  36pt Monotype decorative initials, I have designed and printed limited editions of special prints that show the beauty of these initials, especially when printed by letterpress, on ‘mould made’ 100% cotton paper.  Due to theContinue reading “Limited Edition Hand-Set Letterpress Prints”

I am very lucky to have a set of 72pt Cloister Initials, cast by American Typefounders before they went into liquidation in the 1990s. These letters are the Holy Grail of type, being unobtainable today. Cast from very deep matrix, the printed result, especially on cotton paper, produces an embossed 3-D tactile result, that isContinue reading “Cloister Initials”