PRINTING: LETTER PRESS

Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing using a printing press. A worker composes and locks movable type into the bed of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type.

Letterpress was the first form of commercial printing, and much print-specific terminology derives from it. The raised surface that makes the impression is typically made from pieces of type, but photo-engraved plates can also be used. Letterpress printing can often be identified by the slight indentation made into the substrate.

Letterpress printing was the normal form of printing text from its invention by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century until the 19th century and remained in wide use for books and other uses until the second half of the 20th century.

Letterpress printing can be performed using woodblock type and metal type depending on the aesthetic you are going for.

The arrangement of type for this process to work is to put the letters in spelling the words backwards due to the way it enters the press.