etterpress printing is a careful blend of ink, pressure and paper mixed with a generous helping of skill. The unique printed result remains sought after for its hand-made appeal and wonderful aura of quality.

etterpress is the oldest method of printing known to mankind. Printing this way, in the sense of impressing an inked surface with another material dates back to A.D. 175 courtesy of the Chinese who are also credited with inventing paper 75 years earlier. Over the centuries printing spread throughout Asia to Japan, Korea, Turkey and eventually Europe.


From this early period until the middle of the 15th century the actual process remained the same. Blocks of wood or stone were cut away with tools leaving a raised image which was inked. The surrounding areas which are lower do not receive ink. Paper was laid on the inked image and pressure applied by rubbing bamboo, bone or a dry brush to the back of the sheet. The inked image is transferred directly to paper.

We generally think of printing as a European invention and that's because of one man. In1450 a German by the name of Johannes Gutenberg changed everything. Foremost he invented a way of creating movable type by casting individual letters in hot metal removing the need to carve whole pages out of wooden blocks. But he also invented oil based printing ink and most importantly – the printing press. The printing press meant that pages could now be duplicated easily.

The printing press and it's associated industries undertook a lot of changes and development over the next few centuries in order to achieve greater production speeds. By the late 1960s and early 1970s letterpress was discarded by the printing industry in favour of offset lithography which is the major printing technique used today for the production of magazines, books, packaging and most printed materials.

Today letterpress is considered a craft. It is no longer taught to printing trade apprentices and it's skills and techniques have been largely passed on by an older generation to a new generation of printer willing to explore the unique possibilities available using a combination of old and new technology in the pursuit of beautiful printing. The Artisan Press is proud to print letterpress and only letterpress and the results say more than any words.