Tom Paine Press nears completion; Taking Liberties

Yesterday (28th November 2008) I took the train from Euston to Stafford (along the old LNWR route - see my Euston Arch book) to have another meeting with Alan May and have a look at the 'Tom Paine' common press as it nears completion. The day was cold, damp and raw, but I was warmed up by Staffordshire oatcakes and onion soup thoughtfully provided by Alan's wife Judith. The press was in Alan's garage-workshop, where the 'Gutenberg' one-pull press made by Alan for Stephen Fry's TV programme was constructed. Here are some photos I took of the common press, which is modelled on the so-called Benjamin Franklin press dating from the early 18th century.

Last week I went to see the wonderful exhibition Taking Liberties - The Struggle for Britain's Freedoms and Rights - at the British Library (www.bl.uk/takingliberties). This is on until 1st March 2009, and includes iconic documents from the BL's collections - from Magna Carta, through the Declaration of Right, Colonel Rainborough's Leveller statement during the Putney Debates, Tom Paine's The Rights of Man, May Wolstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women, to the Bill of Rights, the Chartists, the Suffragettes to the Human Rights Act.

The exhibition includes a great deal of original printed material - books, documents, posters, etc. - which gives an insight into a wide range of letterpress and relief printing.

Tom Paine Printing Press, progress report July 2008

Alan May, who is building the press for me, has just sent me this photo of the beautifully engineered nut and pin, crucial components of the mechanism for applying pressure to the platen during the printing process.

Tom Paine Printing Press under construction

Alan May has just sent me this photo of the Common Press (destined for The Tom Paine Printing Press in Lewes) under construction in his workshop. Sitting on it are parts of four miniature presses which he is also constructing. The full-size press will be operational for the Tom Paine bicentenary in July 2009.

Alan May's Gutenberg Press at the British Library

Alan May, who built the Gutenberg Press, is (in grey shirt) standing by the press. His assistant is showing the audience a printed page which has just been pulled from the press.

Here are some photos taken at the Gutenberg Press event at the British Library on 6th May 2008. They show Alan May himself, with his full-size one-pull Gutenberg Press, and also a miniature (quarter size) two-pull box-hose Common Press. All photos by kind permission of Irene Tepli.

Above: Alan May (left) and Peter Chasseaud (right)

Above: Alan May with his miniature 18th Century Common Press. This is a quarter-size model of the full-size press he is building for The Tom Paine Press.

A page of the Gutenberg Bible printed during the demonstration by Alan May and his assistant.

Peter Chasseaud inspecting a printed page from the Gutenberg Bible (paper and ink still damp).



The type and tympan on the bed of the Gutenberg Press.

Type mould constructed by Alan May. When closed, hot metal (an alloy of lead and antimony) is poured in; this immediately solidifies into a piece of type. Prior to this, the positive of the letter to be cast is sculpted from a steel bar, which is then struck into a bronze matrix to create the negative form of the letter. This matrix is fixed into the mould, the two halves of which are held together with the wire spring-clips shown. Once the matrix has been made, it can be re-used in the mould almost indefinitely, so type can be mass-produced.

Peter Chasseaud (left) with the inking balls (on the ink slab). These are made from leather, horsehair and wood, The ink is picked up off the slab with a circular rolling motion, and applied to the type with a similar motion. To keep the leather soft and supple, it was (in the 18th Century!)steeped in urine.