Printing museum opens in Australia

The Penrith Museum of Printing, managed and staffed by volunteers who are primarily printing tradesmen, aims to keep alive the knowledge and skills of letterpress printing for present and future generations. It is considered one of only a few such comprehensive throwbacks into the history of printing in the world.

The museum has been designed to give the appearance of a 1940s Australian printing establishment featuring over 20 pieces of working printing machinery and equipment, as well as a pre-press hot metal ‘composing room’ with type fonts gathered from Australian print shops and machinery dating back to 1867. This includes a completely restored Model 5 linotype typesetting machine.

The line-up of historic hardware includes a Wharfedale flatbed printing press from the late 19^th Century; a 1905 Chandler & Price platen press; and a hand operated platen press from Leipzig, Germany, also from the end of the 1800s.