Via the contact form:

I have a rare booklet ca. 1891 titled Southern California a Few Facts About a Fortunate Country. The printer was Los Angeles Litho Co. Anybody know anything about this firm?

Regards, Jan Hanna

Used books adorning a printing press at Bókakjallarinn in Reykjavík. (A. Fontanel)

A winter vacation to Reykjavík, Iceland is a must if you want to trade cold Northern cityscapes for colder, but breathtaking, geothermal hot springs, ancient geysers, and a chance to view the Aurora Borealis. Those attractions were so alluring, but this printing historian was inevitably drawn to used bookshops and thrift stores for the true flavor of this capital city. My busman’s holiday led to a mini-tour of the letterpress establishments in town.  [Read more]

Jonathan Wells presenting (Robert McCamant)

Friday, October 6, 1:10-2:50 pm ★ Jennifer Chuong, “Fast and Slow Printing: Paper Marbling and Letterpress in Early America” ★ Jeffrey Croteau, “‘The Cheapest and Most Eligible Mode of Shedding Light on Masonry’: Anti-Masonic Almanacs, 1827–1837” ★ Kathleen Walkup, “Work Through a Gendered Lens: Image of Women in the Printing Trades” ★  Jonathan Wells, “Amateur Print Culture and the Origins of Desktop Publishing in America”  [Read more]

Michael Knies presenting (Robert McCamant)

Saturday, October 7, 3:30-5:15 pm ★ Baird Jarman, “Beaten to the Punch: Fake News Illustrations of the 1860 Boxing Championship” ★ Michael Knies, “‘American Novelties are Foolishness!’: British Judgements on the American Typeface and Printing Invasion, 1878–1890″ ★ Mathieu Lommen, “Lettering From Neo-Gothic to Art Nouveau: 19th Century American and European Lettering Manuals” ★ Rose Roberto, “(Re)Assembling Reference Books & Recycling Images: The Wood Engravings of the W. & R. Chambers Firm” [Read more]

Restored Columbian hand press, volunteer Tim Dunn at typewriter (Elizabeth Haven Hawley)

Museum of Printing ★ Haverhill, Massachusetts

 Frank Romano and a full staff at the Museum of Printing welcomed more than 40 people associated with “Good, Fast, Cheap: Printed Words & Images in America before 1900” for a post-conference tour on Sunday, October 8. Near the museum’s entry, an eagle-crested Columbian, resplendent with gold details and the lever-and-weight system that maximized the machine’s impression force, hinted at the equipment in the galleries. The contents did not disappoint!  [Read more]

Betsy Raymond was a notable Northern California calligrapher and book artist. [Read more]

Michael Russem discusses an Isaiah Thomas title page—with and without ornament. (Robert McCamant)

Friday, October 6, 3:15-5:00 pm ★  Lynne Farrington, “A Very Good Book Indeed: Selling Bibles by Subscription in Nineteenth-Century America” ★ Vince Golden, “Mistakes and Mishaps in Early American Newspapers and What They Can Tell Us” ★ Michael Russem, “Ornament and the Printed Book in America” ★ Emily Sneff, “The Substance and Style of the First Printing of the Declaration of Independence”  [Read more]

Amanda Nelsen and Josef Beery presenting. (Robert McCamant)

Saturday, October 7, 10:15-12:00 pm ★  Amelia Hugill-Fontanel, “Multitudinous Tints: An Inventor’s Pursuit of Instantaneous Multicolor Printing” ★ Julie Mellby, “Printed, Pasted, and Published: Edward Wilson’s Photographic Magazine” ★ Amanda Nelsen and Josef Beery, “Flying and Rolling in the Hand-Press Period: Book Production Efficiencies” ★ Hilary Stelling, “‘The best and most universally approved system of illustration …’: Jeremy Cross’s The True Masonic Chart” [Read more]

Christine Garnier (Robert McCamant)

Saturday, October 7, 1:30-3:15 pm ★ James Berkey, “Controlling the Press, Losing the Battle: Ambiguity, Agency, and Print in Civil War Soldier Newspapers” ★ Joshua Brown, “Rise and Fall: Political Cartoons, Caricature, the Civil War, and the Transformation of Visual Satire” ★ Christine Garnier, “Assembling the Runaway: Self-Liberation and Visual Games of the American Civil War” ★ Kate Phillips, “The Topsy-Turvy Networks of Civil War Era Illustrated Envelopes” [Read more]

American Antiquarian Society founder Isaiah Thomas portrayed by actor Neil Gustafson. (Photo: Robert McCamant)

Friday, October 6, 6:45-8:30 pm ★ Christina Kraus, “‘Pointing the moral’ or ‘adorning the tale?’ Illustrations and Commentary on Vergil and Caesar in 19th Century American Textbooks”★ Shawna McDermott, “Phrenology and Childhood: Visual Portrayals in the Periodical Press 1850–1900” ★ Amanda Stuckey, “A Library for the Blind: Tactile Literacy and the Nineteenth-Century Embossed Book” ★ Laura Wasowicz, “From Plantation Bitters to Mi Abuela Facil: McLoughlin Brothers as ‘Manufacturer’ of Children’s Picture Books” [Read more]