Here is the little press on its stand in my studio (quite the adventure wrangling the 200 pound piece of cast iron out of the car, onto a makeshift dolly, and into the basement room, but we managed!). The bed of the press, the flat part where the moveable metal or wood type is arranged and locked and upon which the paper to be printed is placed, measures 12"X18". When the crank is turned, the bed moves under the cylinder and "presses" the paper onto the inked type. Voila! A print!
On New Year's Day I pulled a first print, which you can see in the above picture (sort of). The image is of an old clipper ship. The text is the first line of one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems: "There is no Frigate like a Book..." (The whole poem is viewable at the bottom of this post.)
The Happy Printer:
A poem by Emily Dickinson:
"There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!"