I have been interested in Letterpress for a little while now. My plan was to take a class and then save money to buy a letterpress. I figured it would probably take a while before I'm actually printing on my own...well I guess that it's happening sooner than I thought!
Jerry and I have been checking out local antique stores for anything related to Letterpress/printmaking. So far I have found a couple sets of type and a Ludlow cabinet. I doubted highly that we would ever come across an actual letterpress at any of the stores we visited. Well last Friday Jerry stopped in at an antique mall in Mount Dora and there it was! A Craftsmen tabletop letterpress. We went back on Saturday so I could check it out. It's the cutest letterpress I've ever seen...it's actually the first letterpress that I've ever seen up close and personal. I fell in love. The owner said he found it years ago in New England and he had it displayed in his living room for a long time. He decided about a month ago to sell it. He didn't know much about it, just that he thought it was a Craftsmen Imperial 5x8.
Once I got it home I started doing some internet research. I couldn't find much on Craftsmen Imperial and the info and pictures that I did find really didn't look like my press. I thought I would try posting some info and pictures on Briar Press and hope that someone there might know more about it. I had a couple people respond and one of them suggested to measure the chase because he thought it looked like a Craftsmen C1. Victory press. Ta da! It is! It's smaller than the Imperial, it's a 4 1/2 x 6 1/4 or so. I'm glad that I now know exactly what kind of press it is so I can begin buying the parts that I need. It will definitely need new rollers, trucks, and grippers. I would also like to find a feeder board for it. I also need to find out how to start restoring it. I don't see any rust on it and I'm not sure if it's been painted or not. It needs to be cleaned up though. I can't wait to get started. I emailed Craftsmen Machinery Company about parts and I'm still waiting to hear back from them.
