MUSEUM

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   The Printer -  Without him, tyrants and humbugs in all countries would have their own way. He is a friend of intelligence and thought, a friend of liberty, of freedom, of law, indeed, the friend of every man who is a friend of order.  Of all inventions, of all discoverers in science and art, of all the great results in the wonderful progress of mechanical energy and skill, the Printer is the only product of civilization necessary to the existence of free men.                       
 
Charles Dickens wrote this paragraph, and it explains why I print. I have other reasons as well--I love the smells of the print shop, the associations it has for me with my father's printing shop. When I enter the shop I feel a sort of calm come over me, as I begin my task.  I may not know what I'm going to do, but I know that I will know before I'm through.                          

Printing is also the joy of creation, and the joy of inventiveness, of solving the hundred little problems that arise in the process of printing. I started printing with the thought of making my own cards, my own designs in  linocuts and engravings. Then soon, I discovered the joy of type faces, each with their own character, and set about to acquire a few of my favorites--Colm Cille, Caslon, Bembo....                 

Setting type by hand is a time-consuming and tedious job, and does not lend itself to long polemic tracts. For one thing, I would run out of type after a paragraph or two! I have had great pleasure, however, in setting stanzas of my favorite poems and printing them to share.