BAL SALVAGES SOME EARLIER PRINTING EQUIPMENT

Members of the Book Arts League deserve kudos for their efforts to establish a collection of outmoded letterpress printing equipment at their home base, the historic Ewing Farm on north 95th street in Lafayette.

BAL held an open house Dec. 5 at the Farm, and what a surprise it was for me to see a hand-fed “snapper” platen press in operation again, after having fed one by the hour upon learning the trade as a printer’s devil over 60 years ago. Unlike the motor-driven commercial presses of the past, the “snapper” on display is hand-powered—probably by choice for safety reasons. But that has no effect on the quality of the printed product it churns out, as evidenced by the group’s nice self-produced souvenir bookmark.

Noticeably missing from this collection is the iron monster that revolutionized the printing industry, the Linotype machine. Rarely found and still in use at only two Colorado newspapers, the Crescent at Saguache and the South Y-W Star at Kirk, surely BAL could find one somewhere to display, if it so desires.

BAL and volunteers have already come a long way in establishing an interesting collection at an equally interesting historic farm, both well worth the visit.
P.