A Fine Press creating and printing limited edition books by traditional letterpress.
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A Little Drop of Water
A second birthday book for Natalia (unfortunately she did not get a first birthday book!). Set in 18pt Spectrum and illustrated with stock blocks. 12pp. 2¾ x 3 ins. 40 copies. UK£5.
A Sign Specimen
A specimen of all the Monotype sign and symbol matrices held at the Press, with a brief introduction to their use. Set in 10pt Modern Extended. 88pp. 11¾ x 5¾ ins. 40 copies. UK£20. Issued with Addenda and Corrigenda 4pp. and Addenda and Corrigenda II 2pp.
Emma's Alphabet
A first birthday book for Emma. Illustrated with stock blocks. Set in 14pt Gill and Gill Bold. 26pp. 2½ x 2 ins. 30 copies. UK£5.
Why is Robert Smiling?
A first birthday book for Robert. Illustrated with stock blocks. Set in 18pt Bembo. 16pp. 2¼ x 3 ins. 36 copies. UK£5.
Eddie's Wheel Book
A first birthday book for Eddie, who likes wheels. Illustrated with stock blocks. Set in 14pt Gill. 12pp. 2¾ x 2½ ins. 40 copies. UK£5
Corrugations
A set of two artists' books about corrugated tin structures in Australia, with linocuts by Katie Clemson and an original poem by Anne Bell. Set in 36pt Spectrum Italic. 22pp. 24 x 28 cm and 16pp. 14 x 28 cm. 35 copies. UK£600. See also Further details.
Paper Cranes
About the bird and its origami image. Illustrated with stock blocks and a watercolour, and complete with origami crane. Set in 10pt Perpetua. 29pp. 2¼" x 2¾". 44 copies. UK£30. See also Further details.
A Border Supplement
Shows the borders that we have acquired, or found at the back of drawers, since printing A Border Specimen. It is in the same format, showing one line specimens, and inch square patterns. Set in 12pt Bembo. 16pp. 11¾" x 8¾". 120 copies. UK£25.
A Petticoat Tale
Maddie's fifth birthday book, about a princess and her petticoats. Two hand coloured line drawings, text set in 10pt Gloucester Bold Italic. 16pp. 2¾" x 2¾". 60 copies. UK£15. See also Further details.
A Screw Story
A miniature book about a small collection of matrices of screw shapes, etc., that originated with Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds. Text set in 8pt Gill Sans. 60pp. 27/8" x 1¾". 60 copies. UK£48. See also Further details.
The Tyger
Poem by William Blake printed on assorted Nepali papers, and sewn into printed Nepali paper cover. Text in 16pt Spectrum. 16pp. 4¾" x 6". 34 copies. UK£20.
One-of-a-Kind Books
A series of single copies of miniature flower books, with watercolour illustrations and hand-written text. UK£60 for each book. See Further details.
24-line Antique Bold
The latest wood type specimen, printed in two colours. Japanese binding with paper covers. 20ff. Approx 4" x 10". 40 copies. UK£20. See also Further details.
Settings of Six Point Type
A miniature 32 page specimen of 6pt borders and 6pt type settings. Text set in 6pt Old Style, Plantin, Baskerville, Imprint, Gill, Greek, Grotesque, Modern, Spartan, Times, Univers. 32pp. 2¾" x 2". 50 copies. UK£20.
Fancy Papers
34 samples of the 1950s Sanderson range and their current replacement, together with a brief history of decorated papers. Set in 11 on 12pt Ehrhardt. 32 sheets sewn into boards. 6¾ x 9 ins. 95 copies. UK£60.
A Tiny Ten
Our granddaughter's 3rd birthday book, as a sequel to A Little Alphabet and A Small Piece of Action. A single section counting book illustrated with printers' stock blocks and dingbats to a count of 10. 16pp. 3 x 2 ins. 120 copies. UK£5. (This book had a working title of A Small Count)
Further details are given as Maddie's books
Border Specimen
A specimen book of the Monotype border matrices held and cast by the Alembic Press. Set in 12 on 14pt Bembo. 108pp. 11 x 8 ins. 100 copies. UK£144. (also available in sheets UK£110)
Further details are given as Borders
A Small Piece of Action
A miniature book of action rhymes. Set in 10pt Caslon Old Style, illustrated with stock blocks. 18pp. 3 x 2 ins. 120 copies. UK£5.
Further details are given as Maddie's books
A Tale of Two Benches
About the connection between artist Robert Gibbings and woodworker Bill Pointer, with a wood engraving by Robert Gibbings of his own bench and by Simon Brett of Bill Pointer's bench. Set in 14pt Perpetua. 24pp. 9 x 6½ ins. 120 copies. UK£30. (also available in sheets UK£20)
A Granjon Arabesque
A miniature book exploring one of Granjon's Arabesques. Set in 9 on 10pt Old Style 72pp. 2.75 x 2.5 ins. 140 copies. UK£36. (also available in sheets UK£24)
Further details are given as Arabesque.
A small group solely for the exchange of material that has been printed letterpress. Members contribute items approximately three times a year, with numbers being kept small enough to make the task of printing not too onerous. Alan Brignull at the Hedgehog Press now co-ordinates the distribution.
Although the Press has run a very successful five day Letterpress Printing workshop for some nine years, it does not currently have the facilities for this. However, workshops on table-top printing or early printing methods are occasionally offered at various other locations, so please e-mail Claire if interested. Also, it may become possible in the future to offer combined printing and casting workshops jointly with Richard Lawrence at his studios in Oxford, which is where the Press now houses it's typecasting equipment.
For many years, the Press was able to provide a place for an apprentice for a period of one to three months, once or twice a year. However, this is no longer possible, as we have moved to smaller premises and, sadly, have disposed of all our large presses.
Sunday afternoon open workshops on casting type from Monotype Composition and Super casters are held approximately once a month from 2pm to 4pm. These are presently in abeyance, whilst the equipment is got back under control, but visitors are always welcome at 50 Hurst Street in Oxford. These informal sessions are for anyone (enthusiast or otherwise) wanting to see or try out Monotype keyboards or casters. (See a glimpse of the equipment.) Phone 01235 525227 or e-mail alembicpress@googlemail.com for further details.
For some years the Press held an Open Day, when all its equipment and productions were on show, but as much of the equipment has now gone, only the Open Typecasting afternoons on one Sunday a month now continue. However, the Press is usually open during Oxford Artweeks at 50 Hurst Street in Oxford.
The Alembic Press can provide hands-on demonstrations of aspects of letterpress printing at various exhibitions, fairs, and colleges, etc. For example, we have provided
| The Press used to be housed in a 70ft x 20ft stone barn, until June 2010 (see a view of the printshop and some of the presses, as they used to be). | ||
 | The larger printing machines were slowly passed on to better homes, but the Farley cylinder proof press, a Sigwalt Model 4 and two Adana 8x5, one HS3 and one 5x3 table-top presses are now housed in our new premises. These can be seen in the picture on the left. This new printroom in Abingdon still has a bit of fitting out to do, but all-the-same is now functional for small jobs. The Press has reduced its range of metal and wood type, but as can be seen on the right, still has 5 point up to 90 line, for hand setting, and 5 to 14 point for machine (using a Monotype keyboard and caster). |  |
| The Press also has a small presence at Cowaramup in Western Australia | ||
 | Although the space, seen on the left, looks cramped (you can see the Adana 8x5 if you look carefully), the shed itself, seen on the right, is a large one, shared with a picture framer, and there is plenty of room for running courses, etc., when the need arises. |  |
We maintain a small list of letterpress suppliers and information available in the U.K. at www.letterpressalive.co.uk. Suggestions for additions to this list are always welcome, but note that it tries to keep within the U.K. Note also that it is not a list of Presses that provide letterpress, but rather a list of where letterpress can be seen, asked about, learned, helped with, or where ink, paper, rollers, etc., can be obtained.
The Press can provide advice on early printing techniques, and is continuing its research in this field. Dr. Claire Bolton's recent thesis on Johann Zainer is about to be published by the Oxford Bibliographic Society, and she has given several lectures on aspects of fifteenth-century printing methods. Articles in print are:
Arising from a topic on the LETPRESS listserve group, we show some layouts of various styles of typecase. Blank case layouts are also shown, should you wish to insert your own lay. The pages are all separate, for ease of printing out, or downloading. An index to all the pages is available, as is a short introduction and a
glossary of (some of) the terms used. There is a brief note on variations in Job and Double Case, and Lower Case, and Upper Case styles. Some notes about the quantities of type possible in a Case and a Bill of type are also provided. Over 220 different typecases are shown to date, concentrating mostly on
normal (ie full) size cases for metal type, but including a few exotic cases, figure and spacing cases, etc, by way of example. Dates are given, as derived from the source documents (which are all listed in Sources), but for many of these sources there may be an earlier edition, or reference, that has not yet been consulted.
All these pages are part of our publishing project creating an on-line book of typecase information. Rather than publish once the full work is complete, chapters and pages are added as soon as they are written, and as time permits. The first pages were created in 1997, and amendments and additons continue as new information comes to light, for example where discovery of an earlier source changes dates of featured case lays, etc. The overall alphabetic index, the index of case lays and case configurations, and the list of sources are kept up-to-date as information is added. In view of this work-in-progress, please let us know if anything is missing or wrong!
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This list is only a very small selection of what is available, and for example Briar Press, Ton Cremer, and Dave Tribby all have a much fuller selection.