Letterpress printing

A letterpress printer.

Letterpress printing is a relief-printing technique in which raised surfaces, traditionally metal or wooden type, are inked and then pressed into paper to create an impression. In a letterpress, everything meant to be printed is raised off the page. Ink is rolled onto the raised areas, paper is pressed against them, and the pressure transfers the ink, leaving a tactile imprint. For centuries, this method was the primary way text was created and copied, from single-pages to codices.

The Process

A photopolymer sheet used for printing.

To create a letterpress print, first, individual pieces of type, each representing a letter, punctuation mark, or spacing element, are arranged by hand into words and lines. These lines are locked into a metal frame, called a chase, to hold the composition in place. After inking the type surface with rollers, the printer presses down to apply pressure and transfer the inked design onto sheets of paper. This was done both manually and mechanically. Modern letterpresses often use photopolymer plates (light-activated resin) instead of metal type, allowing digital designs to be produced with the same relief-printing method.

History and Impact

The letterpress printing method revolutionized publishing. Sometime after the movable type, or the Gutenberg Press was introduced by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, letterpress printing evolved from it. This allowed books to be reproduced faster and more consistently than scribal hand-copying. This fueled the spread of literacy, religious texts, scientific knowledge, and political ideas. For roughly 500 years, letterpress dominated the publishing industry, powering newspapers, novels, pamphlets, and virtually all printed communication. Its importance began to decline in the 20th century with the rise of offset lithography and digital typesetting, which were more efficient for mass production. Today, letterpress survives primarily as a craft and artistic practice—valued for its tactile quality and connection to the historical roots of printing.