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My folks gave me a toy press when I was about eleven years old, the cylinder kind with metal slots that you can put rubber type into and then you ink it and
run a crank, and voila--a printed sheet! My first project was an announcement for the "Scott Annual Carnival" which went to all the kids in the neighborhood.
Many years
later in college as a journalism major, one of my required courses, an anachronism left over from earlier times, was typesetting.
We actually set type by hand, locked it up, and then printed a proof, and distributed it back into the case. I enjoyed it, and probably due to perfect eyesight, at the time, never made a mistake.
I went on to many other things, but during that time, about 25 years ago, my dad took up letterpress printing as a hobby, and soon, as a business for his semiretirement.
Two years ago, when he decided to move nearby, he talked about selling his Chandler & Price 8x12 job press, because he said it was too heavy to move.
This was a press that I had
coveted for years; a press big enough to do most printing I'd ever want to do, and a press which is a dream to use--giving good results with a minimum of effort, or what printers call "make ready."
"Gee, Dad," I said, "Don't sell it! Give it to me!" So, being the doting father that he is, he moved it and then gave it to me, along with most of the tools a
printer needs to get started.
One night, fairly late, I decided to try it out. I had printed in Dad's shop sporadically over the years, but not for some time. I went downstairs to the shop, and suddenly realized I hadn't a clue how to begin!
"Umm, Dad," I ventured into the phone a few minutes later, "could you come over and help me get started printing? There's a few things I'm not sure about."
He did, and I was soon printing confidently, happily ignorant of how little I knew. Fox Paw Press & Papermill is the result of those fortunate circumstances.
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