Bundle contributors Mark Sandham and Kalle Pihlajasaari have organized an exhibition of the Vandercook Centenary Print Bundle at the University of Witwatersrand Library, Johannesburg, South Africa. This is the first exhibition of the bundle outside of the United States. Exhibition details and a catalogue in PDF are available at: www.letterpress.co.za/news/vandercook.

Here are some photos from my December visit to the Museum of Printing History in Houston, where I spoke about the Vandercook centenary and consulted on their recently acquired circa 1909 Vandercook Trip Action Proof Press, commonly known as a “rocker.” It had belonged to a company in Cincinnati whose owner said that his grandfather purchased it new. Vandercook’s first model, the rocker was built in four sizes, this one with a 17 × 25½” bed was the second largest. (I’ve seen two others: one in private hands and one at the Museum of Printing in North Andover, Mass.)

I had my first look at this press the day before my presentation. The heavy cylinder was stuck by an odd appliance wedged on the bed labeled “Miller Holdtite.” With some help I pushed the cylinder back to remove it. I didn’t know its purpose but was certain it’s unrelated. I posted a photo on Briar Press where David M. MacMillan says its a “Workholding Vise” and uploaded a pdf of a 1927 Miller catalog.

While there’s rust on the legs, this press is well preserved. I saw planing stripes on the bed telling me it has seen little use. After removing the old packing I found a pristine cylinder face free of rust, grime or any discoloration—astonishing given its age. With assistance from curator Amanda Stevenson and volunteers Gordon Rouze and Steve Sylvester, I cleaned and oiled the rails and bearings, and repacked with a Mylar drawsheet making it ready for a public demo the next day.

After my slide talk most of the audience joined me at the rocker, where I demonstrated its operation and invited them to pull a proof. Printing on a rocker is more akin to using a hand press than it is to cranking a later model Vandercook. The printing form must be inked by a brayer and the paper laid over. An operator needs to lean in over the cylinder, grasp the high side arm handle with the right hand and pull back. The cylinder—actually a curved segment—is heavy, and the operator feels the momentum as it tips forward, and so at the mid point over the form must be ready to grasp a shorter left side handle to help complete the cylinder’s travel until it reaches the end stop. The cylinder will then shift into trip and should be rolled back to the original position before removing the printed sheet. All in all, a vigorous workout. Practice is needed before a fluid motion is obtained

Touted in 1909 as a leap forward in proofing, the rocker is not suited for the kind of production work most Vandercook operators expect. But with its heavy and deep undercut cylinder, it makes an excellent press for hand printing or relief printmaking.

Photos by Amanda Stevenson and Linda Haynes.

I’ve just put my contribution on flickr and thought it would be great if others could upload theirs to show the great un-washed masses what a super project it was…

On Saturday, December 12, I will give my Vandercook history talk at the Museum of Printing History in Houston, Texas. I’ve heard great things about this place and am looking forward to setting up their recently acquired Rocker Series press. Let me know if you will attend.

Delighted to come home to a package full of Vandercook prints tonight! As fun as looking through the online gallery had been, it is nothing compared to the real thing. Fascinating diversity of techniques and approaches. Kudos to all the participants and thanks to Paul and his boundless energy to make this happen.

The Fall issue (mid November) of Ampersand, the quarterly journal of the Pacific Center for Book Arts, will feature a papercraft Universal I to celebrate the Vandercook Centenary. Designed by Shirley Edwards and printed at Logos Graphics in San Francisco. More photos at Lars K. Flickr site. This nicely complements Kyle Van Horn’s papercraft SP20.

REVISED. The question keeps coming up: when was the first Vandercook sold? A 1909 sales brochure says the first press was sold in May of 1909. The story of that sale was recounted in a 1940 Editor & Publisher profile of R.O. Vandercook: “Vandercook had not intended to stop at proof presses, but planned to go on to the building of regular production presses, and so built a model machine showing only the parts that had to do with impression, which became the Rocker Series Press.” Vandercook showed this prototype to Chicago printer Fred Cozzens, who asked how much would it cost to build a proof press. In reply Vandercook asked if he would pay $100. Mr. Cozzens said he would.

The first entry on page 1 of the ledger “Serial 1000-1129 | Book A” shows a date stamp of Sept 30, 1909 next to the handwritten entry “A.F. Wanner & Co. for Kenfield-Leach, Chicago.” Beneath the last column headed “Our Order No.” is the number 150. The ledger also shows that Wanner, the original manufacturer of the Potter proof press, alongside American Type Founders, and Typothetae of New York were Vandercook’s first sales agents.

The brochure and the ledger proves that Vandercook’s press was a commercial success from the beginning. Cozzens & Beaton and Kenfield-Leach are among 126 firms listed in the brochure, as are several prominent printing concerns of the day: Curtis Publishing, University of Chicago Press, The Inland Printer and T.A. Munder.

All images courtesy of Fritz Klinke/NA Graphics.

Hi all – -

I thought I’d offer up a link to some fun for your 3 day weekend.

In honor of Vandercook’s 100th, I put together a little papercraft version of my SP20 to share with everyone. Don’t know what papercraft is?

Make your own SP20 at any size you’re willing to print. Feeling crazy? Scale it up to 1370% and build it life-size! (Your individual impressional strength may vary).

Available as a PDF and an EPS file for infinite-scalability.

The files, larger photo, and legalese are all over at Baltimore Print Studios.

And for the very sharp-eyed, the model above was the prototype version of the final file.
And for the nerds, yes, I printed it on an SP20.

Have a great weekend!

Today is the official deadline to have received participants prints for the centenary bundle. So far I’ve received 61 out of a projected 100. While it fell on a Sunday this year, August 16 was chosen because it is (was) the birthday of R.O. Vandercook.

Several participants have told me their prints are in the mail and will arrive in the coming week, a few have asked for more time to complete the task, and others have not communicated their intent. I will continue to post images of prints on the gallery page as they roll in and privately prod the procrastinators.

Are there any plans to have a special T-Shirt (or even Apron) celebrating the 100 years of Vandercook? It could make a nice companion to the Print Bundle. And lots of people would buy it if priced reasonably.

Perhaps a t-shirt design competition could stir-up the bubbling creativity amongst vandercook users :)

Just a thought.

Regards.

/thomas/

PS. I edited this blog entry to address it to everyone (not just Paul:)

I’m writing an article for the American Printing History Association Newsletter about the Vandercook centenary. The focus is on the various celebrations such as our Vandercook Centenary Print Exchange, the recently published Vandercook Book (currently on exhibit around the U.S.) and a series of panel discussions that were held at the Center for Book Arts in New York.

I would like to know if anyone else is planning a celebration. Anything goes: large or small, through a school or book arts center or you basement shop. Tell me about your naked Vandercooking marathon, your Fitzcarraldo-esque press restoration, or good old-fashioned beer-drinking-while-some-woman-plays-accordion cleaning party. Just lemme know. We still have six months to go!

Roni Gross says that there are only 22 copies of the Vandercook Book left for purchase. The price is $650 plus $25 for insurance and postage. “When we get down to the last 10 it will go up to $750.”
For more information please visit: www.ronigrossdesign.com/thevanderbook or contact Roni directly at rgd6@verizon.net