continued from page 4
agglomeration of antique
presses and old lead type com-
bined with computers, printers
and new fonts and faces from
custom foundries.
On waist-high wooden
counters that line the
press room, artisan
papers in sumptuous col-
ors are neatly stacked
next to test pieces
Stedman has accrued in
the course of her jobs for
a diverse clientele of local
businesses and private
clients, as well as her own
personal projects.
Handmade books fea-
turing flowing calligraphy
and elegant colored ink
bound with textured art
papers and embellished
with bead-and-string clo-
sures dot the press room,
the walls of which are
decked in printer’s “job
cases” – compartmented
wooden cases, which gave
birth to the terms “upper case”
and “lower case” – filled with
antique type and “dingbats”
(printer’s ornaments) 50, 75,
even 100 years old.
And there is the designer
herself. Stedman was born in
Fort Davis and spent her child-
hood as part of an Air Force
family that lived around the
world, with stints in Germany,
France, Italy and the
Philippines.
She readily ascribes her
design esthetic to her exposure
to European art and architec-
ture, which blended with her
innate artistic nature to pro-
duce an appreciation of graph-
ic design, typography and, ulti-
mately, fine-art printing.
She was especially influ-
enced by the clean lines of the
Bauhaus style that swept
Germany in the 1920s, the
Craftsman style of influential
19th Century British designer
and typographer William
Morris and the return to fine-
art printing exemplified by the
American Roycroft School.
Stedman pursued an artist’s
education in California, study-
ing lettering, typography, cal-
ligraphy, graphic design and
art history. Her fascination
with printing and typography
dove-tailed with the resur-
gence of fine-art printing in
– and her dream of creating a
studio printing operation that
would use classic equipment to
create bold new designs.
She gained permission from
Ghostown proprietor Bill Ivey
to rent the old adobe rectory
next to the church. The
abandoned
building
needed work: There were
no floors, and sections of
walls had fallen victim to
neglect and the harsh
environment of the
Chihuahuan Desert. The
building needed a new
roof.
But Stedman saw
potential in the structure
and proceeded to bring it
back from the brink of
ruin, transforming it into
a snug yet airy home for
her presses.
Stedman has collected
old presses and lead type
for
several
years.
Menagerie Press is cur-
Stedman at one of her large presses. rently home to a large
1920s Chandler&Price
the late 1980s and early 1990s.
platen press she found in
By the 1960s, letter-press
Ukiah, Calif., a large-format
printing had been phased out
1961 Vandercook flatbed press
by large-scale linotype opera-
acquired in Hillsboro, N.M.
tions. While scattered private
and a smaller Chandler&Price
presses held on to the old ways,
press, circa 1900.
newspapers and other com-
She put together her type
mercial printers migrated to
library, which she continues to
linotype – and more recently,
expand, from letters found on
to computer-generated typog-
eBay or acquired from letter-
raphy.
press printers going out of busi-
This sea-change had a silver
ness, as well as specially com-
lining: Small-scale printers
missioned type from small type
across the country started sell-
foundries across the country.
ing off presses and type, allow-
Stedman’s work reflects
ing fine-art printers like
wide interests and a deep rev-
Stedman to acquire classic
erence for classic typography
equipment for their own use.
and design.
“People started using letter-
For Marathon artist Mary
press as an art form,” she says,
Baxter, Stedman designed and
“creating small-edition books
printed large-format business
with hand-done woodcuts and
cards on silver stock, featuring
illustrations.”
Craftsman-style graphics and
In 1999, fueled by her
elegant copper-plate type in
dream of making a life in fine-
midnight-blue ink. Another
art printing, Stedman founded
iteration of Baxter’s card fea-
Menagerie Press (the name
tures bright turquoise ink on
refers to the wide array of
glossy coated stock in vivid
household pets she grew up
pink.
with) in Fort Bragg, N.C.
For the newly opened
Two years ago, Stedman
came back to the Big Bend.
continued on page 22
She brought along her presses
THE PRIVATE PRESS MOVEMENT
~ Lauren Stedman, 2009
but, of course, embossing is entire-
The private press movement,
ly different.
which began around the turn of
the 20th century, sought to revital-
It seems every month the paper
ize printing as an art form, focus-
mills come out with an even more
ing on typography, design and
exceptional paper, and “green” is
print quality rather than profits.
very much in the forefront of paper
William Morris was inspired
making these days, also.
by the illuminated manuscripts of
We still have the old estab-
the Middle Ages and was the
lished paper mills in Europe to
father of the movement in
rely on for those very special jobs:
England. The beautiful works of
Fabriano, Puglisi and Magnani
his Kelmscott press influenced
from Italy; Puymoyen and
those in the United States as well.
Brousses in France; and one I
Midwest-born printers and
especially like, Gmund in
typographers Frederic Goudy,
Germany. Crane paper mill here
Bruce Rogers and Edwin and
in the United States makes a
Robert Grabhorn made the private
paper specifically milled for letter-
press their lives’ work, becoming
press printers, giving us the soft
four of the most influential figures
impressionable texture for a deep
in the private press movement in
impression that is so popular.
the United States.
Today letterpress printers have
The Roycrofters in New
the distinct advantage of the old
England, among their many other
and the new technology. With the
crafts, were exceptional printers.
modern computers and scanners
For the last 15 years or so,
we are able to use images from
letterpress printing has been expe-
many sources: drawings, books,
riencing quite a revolution, not
rubbings, any copyright-free print-
only in style but in method. New
ed material and images and hand
private presses have sprung up all
lettering, to name a few.
over the United States and Europe
These images can be scanned
to join hands with the ones that
into the computer, the file sent
had been around for decades.
by e-mail to one of the many
The philosophy of the private
engravers in the country, who
press printer today is much the
makes either a polymer or magne-
same as in the past: quality above
sium plate of the image which is
profit and a complete personal
then mounted on a wood or alu-
freedom in thought and expression
minum block, ready to lock up on
and exemption from exterior influ-
the press.
ence or compulsion. To quote Will
The printer has the option of
Ransom: “The simplest and per-
designing the entire job on the
haps the truest type of private
computer or combining type-setting
press is that maintained by one
with lead type and the newly
who is, at least by desire, a crafts-
created image or, of course, doing
man and finds a peculiar joy in
the entire job in house.
handling type, ink and paper...”
My love of type, typography,
Hopefully the proprietor can
design, books and paper led me to
adhere to these principles and
the world of letterpress printing.
make a living along the way.
Now I can incorporate my pas-
The change in style is mainly
sions into one craft and satisfy
in the amount of impression on the
some bit of creativity through this
paper. To qualify as a good print-
antiquated form of printing. The
er the old printer kissed the paper
computer graphic design work I do
with ink. Little impression was
is second-rate to setting lead type
left on the surface and certainly not
by hand. It just doesn’t compare.
showing on the backside.
I have been interested in doing
Today, with our scrumptious
book design for some time, and last
thick, soft, cotton papers, the look
year had the opportunity to design
to achieve is deep impression,
and publish a small volume for a
almost giving an embossed look,
continued on page 22
Cenizo
Third Quarter 2009
19