I am happy to announce that I’ve been chosen to receive a Fulbright award to study Book Conservation at West Dean College in West Sussex England. I’ll be studying for two years, beginning September 2010.

Community engagement and cultural exchange are integral parts of the Fulbright program, and accordingly I am looking to conduct free workshops in letterpress printing and press maintenance in the UK. I’m searching for printers in the UK who are interested in hosting these workshops (especially if they have a Vandercook, FAG, or similar press). I would love to reach out to a younger generation of artists and printers in the UK.

I will also be available for hire for Vandercook press maintenance or more complicated repairs.

If anyone is interested, please contact me at alex@press817.com

thanks, Alex Brooks

press eight seventeen – lexington letterpress

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A first generation college graduate, Alex Brooks studied Creative Writing at the University of Kentucky. During his college years he was a faithful apprentice at the King Library Press in Lexington (www.uky.edu/Libraries/KLP/tour) – a press modeled after the Bodleian Library Press (www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/csb/bibliographyroom.html) and founded by Carolyn & Victor Hammer. After graduating in 2003, he worked for five years as a waiter while building his own letterpress business, Press Eight Seventeen. Along the way he’s made ends meet as a freelance writer, construction worker, teacher, press mechanic, artist, and pedi-cab driver.

Since 2008 he has been solely occupied as owner & operator of Press 817, a small letterpress printshop and book bindery, where he makes posters, invitations, custom enclosures, and hand printed & bound special edition books. The print shop contains presses and machines (all restored to working order by Brooks) that date from 1887 to the 1960′s.

Brooks has also had a solo show of his works, curated a group show of young letterpress printers from across the USA and Canada, apprenticed at the Dale Guild Typefoundry, hunted typefoundries & printshops in Japan, and moved approx 70,000 lbs. of new old stock type at NA Graphics in Silverton, Colorado. In 2010 he started a Community Supported Art project where 150 shareholders receive a hand printed woodcut every month of the year.

In his free time he travels, writes, builds and rides bicycles, makes woodcut prints, gardens, and plays bike polo.

During his Fulbright year he will be studying book conservation at West Dean College (www.westdean.org.uk).

Articles by Alex Brooks

Gray Zeitz & the Larkspur Press : http://www.larkspurpress.com/articles/SS-mag-9-09.pdf

Printmaker Ross Zirkle Remembrance : http://www.woodengravers.net/B&B38.pdf

Graphic Novelist J.T. Dockery : http://www.bizlex.com/Articles-c-2009-03-04-85452.113117_Art_from_the_Fringes.html

Pedicab Confessions : http://noclexington.com/?p=609

press 817 flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/press817/

I am looking for a motor speed reducer for a #4. This press belongs to Gray Zeitz, who is the nicest person you’ll ever meet, has a beard like ZZ top, and has been hand setting & printing books at Larkspur Press for 35 years. He’s charged me with getting this press running, and this is the last piece of the puzzle. Here’s a pic:

We have the motor and the bracket. I need the reducer (part with orange oil cups) and the cover to the right would be nice too, as well as the belt. This is part number x-9464 in the manual.

thanks in advance,

Alex Brooks

press eight seventeen – lexington letterpress

While traveling in Japan I ran across two of these little vander-like presses. This one was at one of Tokyo’s 6 still-functioning typefoundries, the other was at the Toppan Museum [I can’t post pictures of it because they said so]. Anyways, here’s some pictures for your amusement & edification. Let me know if you have any questions

-Alex

press817

wanted to point you all to some pictures I took while removing, cleaning, and re-assembling the adjustable bed of my press.click here

The airlines have conspired to strand me in the NY area. So I decided to send you all a note from red hook. Unfortunately, I won’t have time to visit the Arm this time, but i did spend a week at the Dale Guild in NJ, and took some pictures of Theo’s vandercook block leveler. I thought it was interesting, and i bet you will too. Enjoy – alex

I have a disassembled 320 who’s missing a few parts. I have no idea where they went to, probably some sculpture kid ran off with them. Anyway, as I see it I have 3 options. 1] find replacement parts from a scrap press 2] machine new parts based on actual pieces or plans 3] sell the sellable parts . Ironically, the lockup bar & the entire iniking assembly is present and accounted for, except for needing recovering. I don’t know what’s wisest here, so any advice or help is appreciated.

thanks much,
alex brooks
press eight seventeen
lexington kentucky

The parts missing are:

cylinder trip plate
NS-357 PLATE
NS-344 CYL. TRIP WEDGE
NR-231 SHAFT
NS-444 safety bar
[other attached small parts]

trip bar

NS351 TRIP BAR

gripper trip rod

LR79 GRIPPER TRIP ROD

LS112 GRIPPER TRIP CONN.

LR80 PUSH ROD

cylinder trip plate
gripper trip rod

Universal I’s [and other v-cooks?] have an optional dust cover which is, because of the design, often broken. They seem to break at the same point – the transition from dust cover to attachment tab. I believe that the dust cover should have been made without the cutout in the center, which would have prevented the failure in the first place.

This is a very simple repair – something anyone can do – but I don’t think it would have occurred to me if I hadn’t seen it on one of the presses at the King Library Press. The Universal I there has the dust cover repaired using one plexi patch and 4 screws on each side. It works but still flexes a little at the break. I improved on this repair by using a patch above and below the break. Plexiglass can be purchased from any glass store, and can be cut by scoring & bending just like glass. Finish the sides with sandpaper. Clamp the four pieces [2 original broken pieces, top patch, bottom patch], one side at a time, and drill holes with a normal drill. Use appropriate size bolts & nuts to hold it all together. This works very well and extends the stress into the wider part of the dust cover, so it shouldn’t break again.

Hopefully, your broken dust cover hasn’t been thrown away. I got lucky, maybe you will too.

hope this helps – alex, press eight seventeen – lexington kentucky

It’s finally time to fix the bent bumper on my Uni I.

The bumper bar itself has been bent from use, which makes the bumpers useless when the press is on short-trip (when in s-t the bumpers stick out from the press instead of hugging the sides of the press). Has anyone ever straightened the bumper bar? I’m not worried about disassembly/assembly, as I’ve taken that part of the press apart before when I was working on the adj. bed. But I’m worried that if I simply straighten the metal then it will bend back fairly easily. What’s the right way to go about fixing my bumper bar?

Any advice is appreciated.

thanks,
-alex
press eight seventeen
lexington kentucky