Scott Letterpress Printing Antique Catalogue Cut

Found this in a junk box I just got in the mail today- it is kinda interesting.

LarryBruce, Greetings:

How extraordinary. A few weeks ago, I bought a piece of letterpress artwork at a flea market. It is a positive image of a largish cabinet, used to illustrate the stationery & advertisements of a furniture manufacturer or retailer (I forget which).

I bought the piece in order to experiment a bit, and gain a better understanding of how our ancestors did what they did. (Okay, not so ancestral. During my senior year in high school, I was permitted to take an after-school job as a delivery boy for a typography contractor in Manhattan. Imagine my post-adolescent glee, a few years later, when they were indicted for forging TVA bonds, and I could dream of what I'd carried, and to whom.)

Meanwhile, back at the flea market, little did I imagine that there was an artisanal revival movement already underway!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterpress_printing

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

i can see collecting this type of thing interesting stuff but ya know from now on since being exposed to this hunk of metal I will always now remember what letterpress printing is btw I made those stamps in ink in the above pictures.

funny the odd jobs we did as kids.

i saw a few more of these on ebay one guy was selling a zeppelin

you hit up the flea markets I go to the thrift shop- my latest find was an American flyer train set with two engines I got for $35.00- selling on ebay for much more-I keep asking them for stamps- so far I told them about Christmas seals and they all said they threw them out but one said had a lot from their father and would bring in so there is hope lol.

You only think you do thrift shops ;) I keep a spreadsheet with name/phone/hours, the date of last visit, postcards yes/no, return visit yes/no.

The problem is that it heartily drives up the cost of such cards as I ever find, because I am more likely to walk-out with near-new 3-ring binders ($1, $2), decorative pieces (chatchkas, in the patois), something that someone else needs to own (IMHO), etc.

I would have expected that the proofs Scott included with the letterpress piece would have been more orderly; now that I know they are your early efforts, may I say "Well done, lad!"

Q/ Did you just use an everyday ink pad, or did you do something more elaborate?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I used ink from a bic pen cut and squeezed out the ink onto paper and spread it out- I do need to get a stamp pad lol- saw some at where else the thrift shop in the stampbook crowd's section, there were different colors, might try green ink. The thrift shop is my picture frame and binder store too, the binders often have the plastic paper protectors ,inserts, that work so well for stamps.

I've been looking for information on these for years. I remember seeing an ad, probably in Linn's, decades ago when Scott decided to sell off these cuts after going to newer technology for its catalogs. But a searches on Google and ebay never came up with anything. I almost believed that I had dreamed it. Thank you so much for posting the images.

i have seen some on ebay play with the wording I guess I can't remember what terms I used letterpress maybe I almost bought the zeppelin one I saw there but can't find it now oh well prob. didn't need it anyway lol.

Here ya go found the ZEP this is the only one I see on ebay at the moment now is your chance....go wild! ha lol- I decided it was more then I wanted to spend on it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Scott-Antiq...em3ce05d7c40

LarryBruce, Greetings:

Dumping-out some ink & smearing it around is probably how the first guy to do it first tried to do it (a phrasing that works better verbally), so you are probably on the right path.

The ZEP letterpress artwork is listed at U$D 100?

Crikey, mate, I only paid U$D 5 for my bit of cabinetry ... but it did not come in a fancy display box.

Clearly, I need to go back to the flea market and stock-up on ... fancy display boxes! ... which is clearly where the value-added resides.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

ya the smearing of the ink in art class was usually made by using a hard rubber roller and the ink came from tubes, we used to make printing with carved potato. I went to thrift store they had red, purple and black ink pads so I got them all but they were dried up and come to find out this town has no ink, so I guess I will either have to order some internet style or stick to bic pens cut up lol. PS: It is not the box but the scott name, just look at their catalogs and you would think they were printed on gold tablets.