Private Presses - Ferrymead Printing Society

The Press

Three press names have been used by the Society: Ferrymead Press (sometimes as The Ferrymead Press), Ferrymead Print Shop, and both originally and again most recently The Ferrymead Printing Society. All names relate to the same incorporated society, the same location and premises, and the same equipment.

Proprietor

The Ferrymead Print Shop is the home base of the Ferrymead Printing Society (Incorporated). Management of the Print Shop is in the hands of the gaffer.

The current gaffer is Barry Radford. (2007)

Location

The Society's premises are in Christchurch and form part of Ferrymead Heritage Park. The premises consist of a working printing shop, a display annex, and members' facilties.

History

The Print Shop opened in 1973 with objectives to preserve, display and operate printing equipment of the letterpress era. It is a working exhibit of how similar sized printing plants operated from the 1920's through to the early 1960's. Donations from commercial and private benefactors provided the premises, equipment and displays.

Equipment

Equipment includes two Albions (one floor standing and one bench model); numerous hand platens (Chandler & Price, Diadem, Furnival); Intertype, Linotype and Ludlow line casters; Monotype composition and super casters; Elrod strip caster; cutting, folding, perforating and stamping machines. Most work is, or has been, done on a 1952 V50 Vertical Miehle or one of two Heidelburg "windmills". The Society has a large range of foundry and mono type but much work uses type from linecasting machines, usually an Intertype.

Publications

A Bibliography of the Ferrymead Printing Society

The following is a catalogue in progress of the printed material produced by the Ferrymead Printing Society. The material is being classified into one of two categories: publications or ephemera. Publications, in this context, are any items that might be expected to be retained by the recipient e.g. a book, pamphlet, or leaflet. All publications will eventually be listed in a seperate revised catalogue of all the holdings of the Society's library (the Revised Catalogue is currently in draft form as at 31 march 2007). Ephemera relates to tickets, cards, and any other single use or time limited item. Representative examples of ephemera will be listed once the publications are completed.

No Date
The Prophet.Kahlil Gibran. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Print Shop. No date. Leaflet. A small (73/4" x 53/4") 4 page printing of excerpts from "The Prophet". A limited unnumbered edition of 300 copies.

Handset Type Styles. Dawber, Alan. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Print Shop. No date. Leaflet. A four page (11 1/2" x 8 1/4") sampler of some of the type styles used in the Ferrymead print shop together with some notes on composition.

In Flanders Fields. McCrae, Colonel John. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Print Shop. No date. Small single sheet. A small single sheet printed on one side (8 1/4" x 5 1/8").

Abou Ben Adhem. Hunt, James Leigh. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Print Shop. No date. Single sheet. A single sheet printed on one side (10" x 7 1/2").

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1983
British Private Presses. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Printing Society Incorporated, 1983. Number One in the series Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop. This number edited by Lloyd Neill. An A4 leaflet of 4 pps machine set using Intertype Old Style Roman and printed on white 104gsm Carnival Text.

Machine Composition. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Printing Society Incorporated, 1983. Number Two in the series Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop. This number edited by Lloyd Neill. An A4 leaflet of 4 pps machine set in Monotype Bembo 14pt and printed on cream 118gsm Artone Text.

Intaglio Printing. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Printing Society Incorporated, 1983. Number Three in the series Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop. This number edited by Lloyd Neill. An A4 leaflet of 4 pps machine set using Intertype Old Style Roman and printed on beige 104gsm Carnival Text.

Lithography. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Printing Society Incorporated, 1983. Number Four in the series Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop. This number edited by Lloyd Neill. An A4 leaflet of 4 pps machine set and printed on 118gsm orange Artone Text.

Relief Printing. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Printing Society Incorporated, 1983. Number Five in the series Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop. This number edited by Lloyd Neill. An A4 leaflet of 4 pps machine set and printed on yellow 118gsm Teton Text.

Photosetting. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Printing Society Incorporated, 1983. Number Six in the series Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop. This number edited by Des Meyer. An A4 leaflet of 4 pps machine set and printed on blue 118gsm Teton Text.

Bookbinding. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Printing Society Incorporated, 1983. Number Seven in the series Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop. This number edited by Fred Argue. An A4 leaflet of 4 pps machine set and printed on dark blue 111gsm Linweave Early American.

Printing in New Zealand - The Early Years (Nga wa o mua). Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Printing Society Incorporated, 1983. Number Eight in the series Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop. This number edited by Lloyd Neill. An A4 leaflet of 4 pps machine set using Intertype Old Style Roman and printed on cream 111gsm Linweave Early American.

Ferrymead Press. Graphic Arts History Collection. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Print Shop, 1983. A dark brown card folder printed on the front with the title, below which is a cut of an Albion press and the words "A Presentation from the Ferrymead Print Shop, Christchurch, New Zealand." Inside is an A4 sheet printed on one side with a forword to the collection and a small eratum card correcting birth details of Nicholas Jensen in item number Five . It is accompanied by numbers one to eight inclusive of the "Historical Notes from the Ferrymead Print Shop" series produced in the same year: British Private Presses, Machine Composition, Intaglio Printing, Lithography, Relief Printing, Photosetting, Bookbinding, Printing in New Zealand The Early Years (Nga wa o mua).

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1988
The Alphabet. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press, 1988. Leaflet. No. 1 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill.

Oldest Woodblock Print in the World. Korean Times, The. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press. Leaflet. No. 2 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill.

The Scribes. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press. Leaflet. No. 3 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill.

The Albion Press. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press. Leaflet. No. 4 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill. Front cover is illustrated with a large cut of an Albion press.

The Incunabula Period 1440 - 1500. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press. Leaflet. No. 5 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill. Title page illustrated with a red coat of arms of Fust and Schoeffer.

Types. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press. Pamphlet. No. 6 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. 8 pages with Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill. Title page illustrates various type face styles.

Wood Engravings. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press. Pamphlet. No. 7 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. 8 pages on the techniques used in the production of the Illustrated London News. Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill. Page 2 is a reproduction of a wood block illustration of the mid 19th century. The colophon includes a small cut of an albion press.

An Introduction to Typesetting Machines. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press. Leaflet. No. 8 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill. The title page has an illustration of an early Linotype machine overprinted with the title in red.

A Beginner's Guide for Hand-setting Type. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press, Leaflet. No. 9 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. Compilation and presentation by Harold Hutchings, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill. The title page has a diagram illustrating and naming the parts of a piece of type. Page two has a line drawing of a California job case with a suggeted layout. Page three has a line drawing of a composing stick - illustrating how it is held in the hand and how type is placed in the stick. Also illustrated on page three is the various sizes of spacing material found in a case of type. The colophon on page 4 has a very small cut of an albion press.

Chromo Lithography. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press. Leaflet. No. 10 in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. Compilation and presentation by Lloyd Neill and Clifford Barrell, linotype setting by Des Meyer, comping & pagination Bill Saunders, letterpress printing by Lloyd Neill. The title page has a reproduction of a stone lithographic press from 1848. The colophon on page 4 has a small cut of an albion press.

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1989
Printing Educational Series. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press, 1989. 8vo. Cloth with d/w. A bound compilation of the 1988 Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series pamphlets No.s 1 to 10. Binding is black cloth with no titling on front or spine. Dust wrapper is brown with title, press name and year 1989 on front with an outside border. Supplied with loose insert containing additional information and corrections to specified No's.

Printing Educational Series. Ferrymead, Christchurch: Ferrymead Press, 1989. 8vo. An olive green tri-fold card wrapper printed on the front with the title, below which is a cut of an Albion press and the words "from the Ferrymead Press" with the year of publication at the bottom. Inside is an A5 sheet, printed both sides, with additional information for and corrections to numbers 1 to 10 of Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series. The wrapper was used to hold a set of the ten numbers produced in the Ferrymead Printing Society Educational Series printed in 1988.

2004
The influence of George Whitcombe on the printing and publishing business in early Canterbury. McDowall, Pauline. Ferrymead Printing Society, 2004. A small 22cm softbound book of 36 pages. ISBN 0476007356. The booklet is a reprint of an Honours dissertation written in the early 1970's. The project was completed over a period of approximately one year and involved three members of the Ferrymead Printing Society: Barry Radford (print shop gaffer, who printed the cover including the plate sinking), Warwick Storey (president, typesetting) and Louis Young (librarian, who set up the project and printed the pages) with the assistance of Barry Eaton (page layout, imposition and lockup).
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