From the Contact form:

1). If an Englishman purchased a printing press in 1826, is there a way to know what kind it would have been? Were there many kinds in production at that time? [Read more]

Specimen of Printing Types and Ornaments, Robb & Ecklin, 1836, p.84 (RIT)

While researching Robb & Ecklin, typefounders in Philadelphia from 1836 to 1844, I discovered information that sheds new light on the history of typefounding in that city and challenges some commonly-held facts. The inquiry that led me to this new information was whether typefounder Edwin Starr (or one of his brothers) intersected with Jedidiah Howe, whose foundry Robb & Ecklin took over, or with Samuel Ecklin or Alexander Robb themselves. [Read more]

From the Contact form:

I’m a researcher trying to figure out how a particular newsletter published in the 1920s was produced. Looking around online, it looks like some kind of mimeography, but I’m not sure. Is there anyone in your network whom I could talk to? I have lots of scans and photos that I can share.
Daniel Ohanian
PhD Student in History
University of California, Los Angeles

APHA is pleased to announce that you can now purchase back issues of Printing History directly from our website. Free shipping within the U.S. You don’t even have to be a member, but please consider joining. Shop now!

48th Annual APHA National Conference
“The Printed Weird: Book History from the Margins”
Austin, Texas, October 12–14, 2023

Deadline extended to June 1. 

[Read more]

Clockwise from top left: APHA Award Individual Laurates Irene Tichenor and Fritz Klinke, Fellowship winner, Val Lucas, APHA Award Institutional Award winners Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione and Mark Barbour of The International Printing Museum.

The American Printing History Association Annual Meeting took place Saturday, January 28, via Zoom with 58 members in attendance. The meeting began with greetings and announcements by the president, followed by the reports of officers, elections of trustees, and the announcements of the Mark Samuels Lasner Fellowship winner and the APHA Awards recipients. [Read more]

From the Contact Form:

I’m on the trail of a 1792 Washington peace medal that is related to archaeological research I have been involved with in western PA at the request of the Seneca Nation of Indians. We have indications that a surviving 1792 peace medal was cast in 1916 in Millvillage, PA, perhaps in plaster, before being turned into a metal dye (or is block the proper term?) for making a halftone print.  [Read more]

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The American Printing History Association Board of Trustees invites you to join the 2023 Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 28 at 2 pm Eastern. As last year, the meeting will be conducted via Zoom and registration (below) is required beforehand. [Read more]

This article is based on the author’s 2021 APHA conference presentation.

Figure 1. Lucha Libre poster. (All photos by Manuel Manero.)

In an era defined by digital media, it is extraordinary to find letterpress print shops in Mexico that have managed to endure and preserve the typographic arts without the support of cultural institutions. Such is the case of Imprenta Enlace, a print shop in the city of Xalapa run by the Romero family. For more than 35 years, they have printed typographical posters with a distinctive aesthetic that is part of the visual identity of popular festivals and events in numerous towns in the states of Veracruz and Oaxaca. It is probably the last shop of its kind in the region and one of the few still operating commercially in the country. [Read more]