This blog is six months old. Thank you to all the registered users, you now number 83. Together we have generated 55 posts (viewed over 10,000 times) and 254 comments. While these numbers are small, some good information has been captured and categorized for the common goal of extending the life of these presses.
To raise the value of individual contributions, I ask that you please review your user profile and fill in your real name and website address (if any). By doing so, other members may give greater credence to your posts and comments. As always, email addresses are *not viewable*.
This is also an appeal for your data to increase the Vandercook Census. It now stands at 504 presses, less than one hundred shy of Fritz’s estimate of 600 still existing worldwide. Could the actual number be higher? Help me find out.
Onward.
I’d like to suggest that we all try to work to get serial numbers for new listings and even the presses already counted. As soon as these un-numbered presses change hands and are documented again they will begin to reflect a bloated and inaccurate reading of the number of presses which are still in existance.
Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY
Thanks Gerald. Yes, the census has a long way to go. It began as a record of Vandercook’s I have used/repaired/consulted/or seen (200+). The rest have been reported by individual owners and by a handful of volunteer compliers: Alex Brooks, Duncan Dempster, Eric Holub, Nicholas Kennedy, Daniel Morris, Dave Seat, Hal Sterne, and Bill Whitley. Fritz has yet to substantively add to it. Several institutional owners have not responded to my inquiries. I hope to havel an accurate count by the Vandercook centennial in 2009.
Paul
Congrats, and onward. Based on the info proffered on the Vandercook Census though, I’d suggest nearer 2x the estimate (?). This is based on my own statistics. A majority of PDT purchasers are seemingly Vandercook owners, for instance. Plus, notably, not all are listed on the Census. For whatever reason. Don’t know how it was compiled, known serial numbers, mailing lists, etc, but it seemingly does not represent the totality. I note, for instance, lack of accurate counts for institutional holdings.