THE OLD SCHOOL PRESS

Moments in the making of The Colours of Rome.

Click on the image to move on to the next.

Marking progress

I count the sheets carefully as they go through the press and put a strip of paper as a marker between each set of ten. When I print the backs I don’t have to count but instead simply adjust the inking as normal each time I reach a marker. Of course I have to start printing the backs from the same end: that means simply turning the stack over: I am then printing dark on the sheets that were printed dark.

Here's an afternoon's work: two formes printed, each in 145 copies. I am obsessed with avoiding set-off so I interleave with coloured sheets, no matter how small the risk.