Menagerie Press:
Hot Type in the Terlingua Desert
Tools of the trade – Cases and drawers of type
by Nora Seymour
T
he fresh, yeasty scent of new ink
fills the air inside a small adobe
building perched at the top of
Terlingua’s Ghostown. At a waist-high
red desk in the corner, Menagerie Press
owner, designer, typographer and
printer Lauren Stedman carefully fits
individual lead blocks into a wooden
frame, or “chase,” aligning them with
breath-taking precision and attention
to detail. The letters are locked in with
4
Cenizo
“quoins,” small wedges that hold the
type in place.
Soon, Stedman will use a painter’s
palette knife to spread a small amount
of green ink onto the flat, circular plat-
en of a letter-press dating from the
1920s. The spinning motion of the
platen will spread the pigment evenly in
a thin layer.
Amid the whir of the flywheel driv-
ing the press, Stedman mounts the type
Third Quarter 2009
block and sets the process in motion.
The press begins to thump rhythmical-
ly, a large yet elegant beast awakened
from slumber.
With only seconds between impres-
sions, Stedman feeds sheet after sheet of
heavy paper stock into the press. As
press meets type, type meets ink and ink
meets paper, something completely
new is born. The resulting printed
piece is so sharp it looks embossed. The
letters are precise, razor-sharp – a
harmonious marriage of age-old tech-
nology and modern design esthetic.
Like the desert in which it dwells,
Menagerie Press is a study in contrasts.
Take the building itself: The formerly
abandoned rectory beside the old
church in Terlingua now houses an
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