This link will be used primarily to list museums and
libraries, worldwide, that have handpresses on display. All pertinent information on the
collections will be included as well as Website addresses when they exist. Museum and
library directors who would like their collections posted here should contact me at handpress@msn.com. The listings are arranged
alphabetically by country, state/province, city, and institution.
The Ashendene press in the Bridwell Library
at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas (see below)
CANADA
Alberta, Edmonton
University of Alberta. Rutherford Galleria;
Rutherford Library Complex; T6G 2J4 Edmonton, AB; Canada. Handpress on display: R. Hoe
& Company Washington, serial number 6239. Phone: (780) 492-7928. Fax: (780) 492-5083.
E-mail: jeannine.green@ualberta.ca.
Jeannine Green, assistant Special Collections librarian. Handpress on display: R. Hoe
& Co. Washington (No. 6239).
Québec, Montréal
McGill University. Rare Book Division; 3459
McTavish Street; H3A 1Y1 Montréal, QC; Canada. Phone: (514) 398-4711. E-mail: hogan@library.mcgill.ca. Website: .
Irena Murray, Chief Curator. Handpresses on display: Clymer’s Columbian, pre-1824;
Washington, 1850; Albion; Stanhope. Other presses of interest: Victorian Parlor press.
IRELAND
Dublin
National Print Museum. Garrison Chapel; Beggars
Bush; Dublin 4, Ireland. Phone: 353 1 660-3770. Fax: 353 1 667-3545. E-mail: npmuseum@iol.ie. Website: . Derval
O’Carroll, manager. Handpresses on display: Columbian and Albion. The Columbian is
used occasionally for demonstrations.
USA
Arizona, Phoenix
Gladys Mahoney working at the Ostrander Seymour
Washington press
UPDATE Phoenix Public
Library. Rare Book Room; Burton Barr Central Library; 1221 North Central Avenue;
Phoenix, AZ 85004. Phone: (602) 262-6110. E-mail: gladys.mahoney@phxlib.org. Gladys Mahoney,
Rare Book librarian. Handpress: Extra Heavy Ostrander Seymour Co., ca. 1905. The press is
used for book arts instruction and workshops. Imprint: Arizona Javelina Press.
California, Bakersfield
NEW Kern CountyMuseun. 3801 Chester Avenue; Bakersfield,
CA 93301. Phone: (661) 825-5000. E-mail: kcmuseum@kern.org.
Website: . Ostrander Seymour
Washington handpress on display.
Illinois, Zion
NEW The Platen Press Printing Museum. 3051
Sheridan Road; Zion, IL 60099. Phone: (847) 746-8170. E-mail: platenpress@iconnect.net. Website: .
Paul Aken, curator. Handpresses on display: Wood & Sharwoods Columbian, ca. 1838, 14
x19 inches; Hopkinson & Cope Albion, ca. 1839, serial number 1111, 14 x 19 inches;
Hopkinson, Finnsbury & Cope tabletop Albion, serial number 2752, 9½ x 15 inches;
Schniedewend Reliance No.2 Proof Press, ca. 1900, 17 x 22 inches, built-in tympan, no
frisket (visitors have printed on this press); Schniedewend Midget Reliance, ca. 1900,
14½ x 19 inches, tympan with wooden frame, no frisket.
Massachusetts, Northampton
NEW Smith College. The Mortimer Rare
Book Room; Neilson Library; Northampton, MA 01063. Phone: (413) 585-2906. E-mail: mantonet@smith.edu. Martin Antonetti, curator.
Handpress: Otis Tufts Acorn, Boston, ca 1830. Used for demonstrations.
New York, New York
NEW Bowne & Co. Stationers. South Street
Seaport Museum; 207 Front Street; New York, NY 10038. Phone: (212) 748-8651. E-mail: bownesssm@earthlink.net. Barbara Henry,
director. Handpresses: Hopkinson, Finsbury & Cope Foolscap Folio Albion, 1844; Edward
Bevan Columbian, 1858; Shniedewend & Co. Baby Reliance, 1905; R. Hoe & Co.
Washington, 1846.
North Carolina, Durham
Duke University. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special
Collections; Box 90185; Durham, NC 27708-0185. Phone: (919) 660-5835. Fax: (919) 660-5934.
E-mail: tim.west@duke.edu. Walter C. (Tim) West,
director of Collection Development. Handpress on display: "Ramage Press," i.e.,
in the style of Adam Ramage. This press was probably built locally around New Market, VA,
ca. 1800-1810.
Texas, Dallas
Bridwell Library. Southern Methodist University;
P.O. 750476, Dallas, Texas 75275-0476. Phone: (214) 768 -3440. E- mail: ewhite@mail.smu.edu. Dr. Valerie Hotchkiss,
director. Handpresses: Hopkinson & Cope Albion, serial number 2919, patent number
3325, 1853. This press belonged to Charles Harry St John Hornby and is referred to as the
Bridwell-Ashendene Press; Fk Ullmer Albion, patent number 2519, 1869. The presses are
occasionally used in workshops and to print ephemera and typographic exercises.
Utah, Provo
NEW Crandall Historical
Printing Museum. 275 East Center Street, Provo, UT 84606. Phone: (801) 377-7777.
E-mail: loucrandall@fiber.net. Louis E.
Crandall, president. Handpresses: replica of Benjamin Franklin’s original English
common press; a replica of the Smith press, in an acorn frame, that was used to print the
first edition of the Book of Mormon. Lectures and demonstrations on the role of
printing of the scriptures are presented daily by appointment.
Vermont, Shelburne
Shelburne Museum. Phone: (802) 985-3346. Bonnie Christensen,
curator. E-mail: btc@together.net. The museum has a
handpress which Stephen O. Saxe refers to in his book American Iron Hand Presses (Oak
Knoll, 1992) as the "Press at the Shelburne Museum" (ca. 1825) since it is the
only example of its type. It is in the Ben Lane Printing Shop. The press is occasionally
used for demonstrations.
Virginia, Lexington
NEW Washington and Lee University. Leyburn
Library; Lexington, VA 24450. Phone: (540) 458-8662. E-mail: merrilly@wlu.edu. Yolanda Merrill, reference librarian.
Handpress on display: R. Hoe & Co. Washington.
Washington, DC
Graphic Arts Collection. The National Museum of
American History, Smithsonian Institute. Stanley Nelson, curator. E-mail: nelsons@nmah.si.edu. Handpresses: Adams Acorn, #325;
Tuffs (?) Acorn, ca. 1835; Hopkinson & Cope Albion, No. 1930, 1845; Ullmer Albion,
1859; Ritchie & Son Columbian, ca. 1860; Bronstrup Philadelphia, after 1850; Smith,
after 1835; R. Hoe & Co. Washington, No. 5465, ca. 1865; R. Hoe & Co. Washington,
late 19th century; A.B. Taylor Washington, ca. 1860; C.T.F. Washington, ca. 1860, platen
26 x 42 inches; C.T.F. Washington, ca. 1860, platen 24 x 38 inches; Wells, ca. 1819.
The Ashendene Press, by Colin Franklin was published by
Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas in 1986. The book is a
history of the press with complete bibliography and a general list of the Ashendene Press
Archives (see below for list). The Carmina Sapphica, printed in 1902, was
re-issued with re-touched plates by Bridwell Library.
The sources at Bridwell Library as listed in Colin Franklin’s
book:
A. The set of Ashendene Books, including vellum copies of all for
which examples on vellum were printed, from the collection reserved by the Printer for
himself or his family.
B. A Complete collection of the minor pieces and ephemera.
C. A folio volume, in which is mounted an assembly of proofs,
trials, Hewitt’s drawings for alphabets of initials, preparatory work for the Subiaco
fount, and Ashendede Press minima. Cited in Franklin’s book as ‘the
scrapbook’.
D. A complete album filled with material for the post-war books in
copious detail, including Louise Powell’s drawings for the Don-Quixote
initials, alphabetes by Hewitt, Subiaco experiments, first Ptolemy trials, letters from
Hewitt and from Gwen Raverat, proofs, etc. Cited in Franklin as ‘the record
book’
E. Ashendene Press letters, mounted on guards, of the first few
years of the Press.
F. Five boxes, files and slip-cases of letters, manuscript,
typescript and proof. Most of the letters have been photocopied and roughly transcribed in
three folio albums at Bridwell. The boxes include drafts of Hornby’s talk to the
Double Crown Club, and for much of the Bibliography.
G. Three volumes of Accounts.
H. Two volumes of ‘Subscribers’ Lists’ plus several
other lists of subscribers on loose sheets, in ring-files or exercise books.
I. Original drawings for Ashendene book illustrations, by the only
two artists to be involved, C.M. Gere and Gwen Raverat.
J. Three manuscripts, related closely to the Ashendene books:
1. Journal of Joseph Hornby.
2. An album in which are mounted the manuscripts of nine of the
poems which make up the volume printed in 1914, Poems written in the Year MCMXIII by
Robert Bridges Poet Laureate; letters from Bridges, and his notes on proofs and
spelling as the book progressed.
3. A manuscript from 1486, written in the hand of its author Ugolino
Verino, for the nuns of Sancta Clara Novella in Florence-printed as Vita di Santa
Chiara.
K. Correspondence, photographs, critical notes, designs and smoke
proofs connected with Subiaco type, loose in envelopes.
Plain Wrapper Press / Ex Ophidia. The New York
Public Library; Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street; New York, NY 10018. Mimi Bowling, curator.
