C&P Pilot
In 1886, William T. Price, a mechanic, and Harrison T. Chandler, an investor, formed a company in Cleveland, Ohio for the production of floor-model jobber presses. (See the C&P Oldstyle for more details.) The Pilot was, however, not a jobber but a hand-lever tabletop press that was intended mainly for schools. The Pilot is now considered one of the best tabletop presses ever made; it was manufactured by Chandler & Price until about the 1970s. Until fairly recently, similar presses were still being made by the Craftsmen Company of Boston. Another press, the Columbian C&M lever press, manuafactured by Curtis & Mitchell circa 1885, looked extremely similar to the Pilot. Damon and Peets sold a similar press with a 6 1/2″ x 10″ chase that was called the Favorite Junior Lever press. One of the Pilot’s unique features is that the lever can be attached on either side of the press to accommodate both right- and left-handed printers.
In 1886, William T. Price, a mechanic, and Harrison T. Chandler, an investor, formed a company in Cleveland, Ohio for the production of presses based on Gordon’s old-style Franklin Jobber. The oldstyle C&P shown, built in 1911, is very similar in design to the Gordon Franklin, as is the 8×12 jobber made by Damon and Peets (see Damon & Peets 8×12). Donald Stapells: “This particular press was completely rebuilt in the late fifties or early sixties by the Montreal printing machinery firm of George M. Stewart. Sometime earlier in the history of the press, the flywheel crankshaft was replaced with a straight shaft, and unfortunately the treadle was discarded. It had already been motorized when it arrived at the George M. Stewart shop with a rare variable-speed motor, possibly General Electric, that dates back to approximately the 1920s. Although it weighs 90 pounds, it only develops a half horsepower! The motor required repairs and was also fitted with a speed-control lever that could be reached while feeding the press. An electric impressions counter was installed. At this time the ink fountain pawl actuator system was replaced with one having an improved design. The press continued in use until 1995.”
Elizabeth Harris: “Ears on the side of the Baltimore A chase fit into notches on the sides of its bed, and the chase is also supported by a short ledge. For no apparent purpose, the ink plate has notches almost identical to those on the bed; perhaps the two parts derive from the same pattern piece . . . There are no paper bales, and the press uses short type only.”
This Baltimore No. 11 was made about 1885 by the J.F.W. Dorman company of–where else?–Baltimore. It is a well made, highly ornamented press; despite its small size, it is capable of doing good printing if the form is small. The press holds two rollers on one roller arm (The Baltimore pictured does not have its rollers attached). A similar press, the Baltimore 10, has only one roller.
John Horn: “The Automatic in the collection of the Houston Museum of Printing History is marked ‘Automatic Printing Devices Co. Cal. (California) USA Patented.’ Card presses such as the one shown here were manufactured by several different companies in the U.S. and probably one or two in Europe. Similar presses are labeled Feuerstein, La Magand, and Buffum, the latter manufactured by Buffum Tool Co., Louisana, Missouri (as advertised in a 1910 issue of Inland Printer). Paul Aken: “The chase, mounted in the press upside down, moves vertically. Cards are fed into the guide from the bottom of a stack, printed, and then shot off under the press on to the table. A suitable stand could be made by cutting a hole into the top of a table with a drawer in it. Printed cards would fall into the hole and could be retrieved by opening the drawer.”
S.O. Saxe writes, “This is the only surviving Alert press I know of.” It was made in Boston between 1877 and 1889 by Gorham & Co., which made various small presses.
This is the floor model Albion press used by William Morris, founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, to produce his most highly-regarded book, “The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer” (1896). (For information on Richard Whittaker Cope and his Albion press, see the table-top Albion.) Jethro Lieberman: “Manufactured in 1891, Albion Press No. 6551 remained with its maker, Hopkinson & Cope, until 1894, when William Morris purchased it for £52.10s as one of the three full-sized Albions he was to own at the Kelmscott Press. Morris chose this Albion for the formidable task of printing the Kelmscott “Chaucer;” he had the press reinforced with iron bands to keep the staple from blowing up under the extra pressure required to print the heavy forms of this monumental book. After Morris’ death, the Albion was owned first by C.R. Ashbee’s Essex House Press, and then subsequently by the Old Bourne and Pear Tree Presses, before it was purchased by Bertha and Frederic Goudy in 1924. The Goudys brought the Albion to America where it joined the typecasters and other foundry equipment of the Village Press. In 1961, Elizabeth and Ben Lieberman acquired the press after it had resided with several additional printers. When the Liebermans’ Herity Press took possession of the Albion, its history was so much implanted within its iron rails that the machine acquired only a formal name, the Kelmscott/Goudy Press, but also a nickname, K/G. The Liebermans had a Liberty Bell affixed to the top of the press–an alteration approved by the Morris Society, “…as a pledge to the freedom of the press which the personal printer represents and helps sustain.” The Albion, called by the Liebermans “the international symbol of the living personal printing movement,” now resides with their son, Jethro.
The counterweight Albion was originally built in London around 1827 by Richard Whittaker Cope, inventor of the Albion press. The addition of a counterweight, typically in the shape of an urn or the royal arms, was intended to increase the strength of an impression, thus creating a better print. Very few of the counterweight Albion presses were ever built, however; shortly after Cope’s death in 1828, his successors replaced the weight with a spring in a cap, as on the first Albion presses. Counterweight Albions were also made by handpress manufacturers in Brussels, Belgium, as is the case with the press shown, built by J.P. Lejeune around 1840. Its weight is in the form of the Belgian Lion.
The Albion, a direct descendant of Gutenberg’s wooden press (see the Gutenberg), was an English bench-top press invented by Richard Whittaker Cope (?-1828) of London. The date of invention is not known, but the first record of the press is from 1822 when some Albions were imported into France. Presumably Cope chose the name “Albion”–a poetic name for England–in response to the Columbian Press, recently arrived from America. The Albion was advertised as being lighter and less bulky than rival English iron hand presses like the Stanhope. The Albion had ample power, particularly in the smaller sizes, and became the most popular hand press in Britain, as the Washington was to be in the United States. The Albion has a different type of toggle lever from that of American-made iron hand presses and a large spring on top of the press for the return of the platen. This arrangement was much more compact than the long levers of American presses of the time like the Wells. At the time of Richard Cope’s death around 1830, his company was taken over by John Hopkinson working under J. & J. Barrett, trustees of Cope’s estate. For ten years, all three names were cast into the press, but after 1840 the style was simply known as “Hopkinson & Cope.” Albions were manufactured in England from the 1820s until the end of the nineteenth century, but few, if any, arrived in the United States until the twentieth century when they were brought in by collectors. This particular Albion has a 9 1/2″ x 15″ “foolscap folio” platen, so named for the size of the sheet that it would print (9 3/4″ x 15″). It reads “Jon & Jer Barrett, Exors of R.W. Cope, Finsbury, London,” and is dated 1842. It is a table-top press that usually sits atop a wooden stand (not shown). The Albion/Kelmscott press, in contrast, is a floor model press.
