Print Letterpress .com :: Letterpress Printing Supplies :: Letterpress Printing Blocks, Cuts, Hot Foil Stamping Dies, Leather Stamping Plate and Belts

Print Letterpress .com is the place to find all things letterpress. We also make custom soap stamps, leather stamps, wax seals, hot foil stamping plates. Custom letterpress cuts, blocks, and dies are available in stock designs or using your own artwork. Letterpress drive belts are custom made to order to fit your press.

---

Printing with movable type is known at letterpress printing. On the type, the face is the raised surface which is inked. After inking, the face is pressed down on the paper to print the face image in reverse. Over the years, numerous images have been made into blocks or printing plates that are inked in the same fashion and pressed upon the surface to be printed. Wood block printing has been around since well before 700 AD when the early Chinese carved patterns into wood blocks for printing on textiles.

Later, around 1400, Johann Gutenburg and associates were credited with the invention of movable type that was cast and reusable. The wine press was turned into a wooden printing press and the process began. The press held the type or printing blocks together and the faces were inked. Then, the paper was laid on top of the blocks, much different than the process today. After laying the paper on top of the arranged type, some solid surface (maybe a thin piece of wood or other flat pre-sized surface) was placed on top of the paper and the pressure was screwed down from the top by what looked like a large clamp screw.