You guys, I'm turning out to be a letterpress travel guide. First I went to Letterpress Things, next month I'll visit Dave Churchman's fabled warehouse in Indianapolis (has any girl ever been so excited to attend a conference for art librarians in Indiana?), and last week I took a little trip downtown, and back in time, to Bowne & Company Stationers.
Bowne & Company is now part of the South Street Seaport Museum (and has been since about 1974), but it is also the longest continually operating business in Manhattan. The original Bowne & Company was founded in 1775 and a version of that business still operates in a different form as financial printer today. The museum outpost is on the same street that Bowne & Company, Stationers has been operating on since 1829 and is still set up to look as a print shop would have in the Nineteenth century. Although I've been meaning to visit the museum/shop for quite a while now, I hadn't gotten around to it because I also kind of hate that part of the city. It's extremely crowded, mostly with tourists, and with the exception of the South Street Seaport Museum, the businesses that line the old cobblestone streets are mostly huge chains. It's like an outdoor mall with a lot of bars. So as to avoid the biggest crowds, I waited until I'd have a weekday off to visit. Of course once you step inside the store, the crowds disappear and it's nice and soothing and letterpress-centric.
Now I think I was expecting more of a museum, but it's really a stationary store with some very cool displays, and I wasn't disappointed. Mention to the printer/cashier/curator, Robert Warner, that you've an interest in printing and you can spend a very nice hour being shown various bits and pieces around the shop and get a lot of history in the meantime.
Up front they have two iron handpresses: a small Albion and a big ornate Colombian. There's a forme locked up in the Albion, but I think it's mostly for show. I hadn't ever seen a hand press as fancy as the Colombian, with the bird and gilt it was quite a sight.
In the back of the shop, they have a big Golding Jobber, a Colombian platen press that I didn't really see, and well hidden for period verisimilitude, a Vandercook. Best of all, they've got so many cases of type and cuts -just an amazing assortment. In 1985 they printed a specimen book, and the quality and variety of their display faces especially is just amazing. They have everything. It's like looking at McGrew's. The specimen book is long out of print, but I'm going to keep my eye out for one. Even better, they actually use all this type too. They do job printing (weddings, birth announcements) and greeting cards in order to keep the shop open, and they sell the cards and ephemera both at the shop and at Greenwich Letterpress (perhaps other places too - I'm not sure).
That's the back area of the shop where the public isn't allowed. I love the lights (and the space! and presses! and messiness!). I might actually start volunteering there a couple times a month. In other news, I'm still working on part two of the wedding invites post. I'm fairly ambivalent about those and there were so many problems that it's taking some time to recap. I'm also still getting the new press set-up: getting residual rust off, fixing roller hook problems, stabilizing the heavy thing, marveling at the increased size, and setting the platen. I'm hoping that'll all be finally finished tonight and then I'll be back in business.
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Posted by: Eiffel tower tours | Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 01:24 AM
Hi there - This is a very nice account of your visit to Bowne and, sadly, a nostalgic one, too, as the Seaport Museum closed Bowne a couple months ago.... But! There is a campaign to bring it back:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Bowne/193849200648544
http://friendsofbowne.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/friendsofbowne
Hope you will join!
Posted by: Friend of Bowne | Friday, April 15, 2011 at 08:07 PM