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 […]
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Please excuse the mess
This site is in redesign. The blog and the older static (html) pages have merged. This will make images and data tables load faster and give you the ability to search key words, categories, and meta tags on all pages. The page hierarchy has been reorganized, some have become sub pages while others are now […]
MoreRSS Feeds Fixed
After having been broken for weeks, the Vanderblog RSS feeds are working again. For those unfamiliar, RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is a free, time saving means of being informed of new content on websites and blogs from the home page of your browser or a feed reader. Check it out by […]
MoreHouston Vandercook Talk
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.
MoreComment Images Made Easy
It’s now easier to add images to your comments to blog posts: 1) Write your comment. 2) Select “Browse” and navigate to the file on your computer. 3) Select “Submit Comment.”
MorePapercraft Vandy
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.
MoreOne hundred years today
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 […]
MoreBundle status
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 […]
MorePotter Census
I just posted a new census of Potters presses. I’m hoping to figure out the manufacturing history of these machines. Originally Manufactured by A.F. Wanner Co. Chicago, IL., later Potter presses have name plates that say made by Hacker Manufacturing. The 1935 ATF Catalog shows Challenge-Potter and Challenge-Poco presses (pages F-11, F-13).
MoreHow do you party?
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 […]
MoreVandercook & Company ca. 1890
This image is for a billhead for a wood and photoengraving company partnership between H.R. Vandercook and F.N. Tucker in Chicago. H.R. Vandercook and R.O. Vandercook were first cousins. No mention of R.O. having worked there has been found in any trade journals or other documents. Below is a display ad from the […]
MoreVandercook Assembly Line, 1934
This photo shows the interior of the Vandercook & Sons plant at 900 N. Kilpatrick Avenue in Chicago. Similar shots are used in catalogs of this era. In the foreground and suspended at left are 219s, further back are what look to be four 22s, a No. 3 and a 17. The plant built by […]
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