Our super Models

A Model No.3 of old
(image borrowed from the British Letterpress website…)

Our Model No. 2 inscription

We are the lucky owners of a pair of Model printing presses, but until stumbling across them we had no idea they existed. So wanting to know a little bit about their history, we have tried to find out more. Of course being Victorian iron beasts they don't have their own dedicated website.

However after a bit of digging we discovered that the Model Press was patented by Willian Clark and Joshua Daughaday in America in 1874. By 1877, Messrs. Clark and Daughaday had sold the British patent to one Carlo Giuseppe Squintani, who began selling the presses in the same year. Our Model No. 2 states in no uncertain terms that it was Squintani who produced our press, possibly in his London showroom in Farringdon (coincidentally around the corner from where we work).

Wanting to market his presses to the largest audience he could, Squintani declared everyone could be their own printer. Something we are hoping is true. And to make sure there really was a press for everyone, Models came in a range of sizes; from the teeny No. 0 to the hefty No. 6 jobber. We have a No. 2, with a 5" by 7 1/2" chase, but weighing 112lbs, and the larger No. 3 coming in at 148lbs and a chase measuring 6" by 9". Yet despite being beautiful and sturdy pieces of engineering, and with a big variety of sizes, the Model Presses paled into insignificance once Adana presses took over. Shame really.

A big thank you to Benjamin Brundell at britishletterpress.co.uk, where they handily have articles on a host of presses. Next stop St. Brides…