Over the holiday, a brand spanking new (old) Monarch Press was unearthed and went up for sale. Anyone that’s been shopping for one knows that a good working tabletop press is hard to find, and even more so when it comes with a larger chase size. I actually wasn’t shopping for another press at the time, but it was a deal I could not pass up and I had to see it with my own eyes. I made arrangements to meet the seller, John, and as I walked up his driveway, I spied her. There she was, beaming in John’s back yard, waiting to be taken home.
My jaw dropped as I assessed the condition of the 9×12 Craftsmen Monarch staring back at me. Sans rollers, this little gem had been hiding for decades with an unused ink disk, original orange paint job, working gripper bars and great rails. She also came with 3 chases and a full case of 36pt Futura Bold lead type. Score!
Along with a little dust and minimal surface rust here and there, the press came with 2 gauge pins in place, as well as both the feed board and delivery board in excellent condition.
We had to temporarily leave some Christmas presents behind to make room for the Monarch. “Madame Butterfly” was a 5 minute drive from my old stomping ground. Could there be a 8×12 old style treadle press hiding somewhere nearby?
This year, I asked my Secret Santa for vintage wood type for Christmas. Goofy, yes, I know. My sister-in-law, Angie, read my wishlist and personally hand picked these vintage pieces of wood type as a Christmas present for me. Apparently, she lives next to an antique/junk shop that happens to have a bunch of letterpress type laying around. Lucky her. Here’s to the start of a great wood type collection!
Also, a few weeks ago, I had put out a wanted ad on BriarPress for some new to slightly used Pilot rollers. I received a few responses, but one offer was the best. My barely used Pilot-sized Super Rollers, bought from Paul F., arrived in time for a photo with the Christmas tree. Along with the delivery were a set of roller bearers and an ounce of copper spacers. Yay!
I got a call from my good friends over at Roxy. They were in need of 750 holiday cards printed up: 2/1 + envelopes and needed them out asap. I was in the middle of printing up Maeden and Derwyn’s wedding invitations, but I was happy to accept the job. Once things got going and I did the math, I realized I was in for a rough week. For these holiday cards alone, I was about to crank my left arm and pull my trusty little Pilot’s lever over 3,000 times in the span of several days. Lucky for me, Lieutenant Price had decent rollers and was up for printing the job.
On a dark and stormy evening, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with friends awaiting my arrival at home, I made the trek out to Vernon, where I ordered and picked up the lot of parent sheets of Crane Lettra. 100% cotton. The good stuff.
This is what Lt. Price looks like all covered up in metallic gold ink and ready to go. After printing up 750 of the gold on the front panel, then the red tracks, and finally the inside text, it was then time to get these bad boys to the bindery for one last step… scoring on a Heidelberg.
3,000+ cranks later…
I would have scored these myself, but this run was a bit large for me. I got help with scoring from Ed, over at Afana Printing, up in Signal Hill. In case you were curious, here’s what scoring on a Heidi looks and sounds like.
Thank you for visiting my design and letterpress blog. Here, I will be posting my experiments, solutions and an occasional reaction to the world around me. I hope to document my chronicles as a designer, my adventures as a typophile, and my trials and errors with one of my first loves—letterpress. enjoy
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