The Single Most Expensive Broadsides That I Have Ever Printed (1 Viewer)

[bospress.net]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Leonard-Cohen-A...tZAntiquarian_Collectible?hash=item3caa9c4173

Of course, it was not my printing that made the sale, but the Leonard Cohen signature, the artwork by anjani and that 100% of the proceeds went to Doctors without Borders.

Still, it is cool seeing a couple broadsides that I printed sell for $730.

Bill

 

[Bukfan]

"printed by Master Printer, Bill Roberts", it says. Now, that's cool! :)

 

[mjp]

You are big time now. None of us will be able to afford you. ;)

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I knew Bill when...

 

[bospress.net]

"printed by Master Printer, Bill Roberts", it says. Now, that's cool! :)

It is very kind of him to say, but in the real world (and even in my huge ego world), I'm no more a "Master Printer" than I am 8 feet tall. I have seen printing by "master Printers" and my work is not that level.

Bill

 

[Gerard K H Love]

The most expensive up until now. You could see more in the future. Congrats!

You can tell customers your stuff can appreciate in value. Your broadside can sell for up to $700. plus and that's just a couple of broadsides.

Doesn't that sound powerful. Pound that chest Master Printer Roberts.

 

[roni]

[...] I have seen printing by "master Printers" and my work is not that level. [...]

See! Success hasn't spoiled him!
Not only is he a master printer - he is modest too!

Congrats Bill!

 

[Rekrab]

Bill Roberts, 8 foot tall Master Printer. I'll tell my grandkids "I used to be printed by Bill Roberts." You really are a master printer, Bill. They wouldn't have brought $700 plus if they didn't look great. Of course, the painting and signatures and charity helped some, but still.

 

[mjp]

"Master Printer" used to indicate a level of skill and experience in the trade (trade, not art). You had to pass through a lot of levels such as Apprentice and Journeyman and it took many years to work your way up to Master.

But now that ink on paper printers are becoming extinct, and running a big four color or newspaper press is more of a computer job, the titles have pretty much disappeared. I'm sure there is still a printers trade union somewhere, clinging to life, and they probably still use the terms. But the self-taught letterpress "artisans" or BFAs who took a class on printmaking calling themselves "Master Printers" have kind of taken the polish off that apple.

Bill is a printer, and that's a rare enough title to have these days, and one to take some pride in. You can tell when someone has it in their blood, and I am quite sure he'll still be printing on some huge mechanical rig long after the fad-printers have sold their Kelseys to scrap metal dealers and used the money to buy sweet fixies.

But Bill Roberts, 8 foot tall Master Printer does have a nice ring to it.

 

[jordan]

there's a guy in berkeley named peter koch (he runs the codex foundation that puts on the bi-annual book fair), and he refers to himself as a master printer. the thing is, the resurgence of letterpress isn't only gaining traction (in my opinion) because it is handmade, but also because of the 3D aspect of it and the tactile qualities it produces... something a lot of master printers are taught to eliminate as much as possible.

anyway, i won't consider bill a master printer until he has a handlebar mustache and a green visor.

 

[d gray]

well done, master bill!

way to keep the art form alive.

 

[mjp]

...the resurgence of letterpress isn't only gaining traction (in my opinion) because it is handmade, but also because of the 3D aspect of it and the tactile qualities it produces... something a lot of master printers are taught to eliminate as much as possible.

Exactly. People want the printing embossed now, and the thought of that would horrify a good trade printer. Back in the day the sign of true expertise was a good dark impression with no distortion of the paper.

 

[bospress.net]

anyway, i won't consider bill a master printer until he has a handlebar mustache and a green visor.

Funny that you should mention that. I recently grew a big beard. I decided to shave it, but what fun is it to just shave it? The fun is in shaving it into funny shapes. My friend justin.barrett did the same thing, so I copied him (although I have done this every time that I shaved my beard to mess with the kids.) I went from the month long scraggly beard, the removed just the chin, so the moustache wrapped around (which looked funny), then to the walrus, then to the regular run of the mill 70's porn moustache, then, to the hitler, followed QUICKLY by being clean shaven. Of course, my wife took pictures at each stage. The time before I started off with the Amish beard, which is a riot! Maybe next time, I'll go for the John Waters, which is also very funny.

Back to the term "Master Printer", Jordan is right, a master printer prints letterpress that looks like it is printed offset (this is called the "Kiss Impression". This is no small feat and takes a TON of talent, which is lost on everyone, except other like-minded printers. They consider those of us that print into the paper to be talentless hacks. Of course, I fail to see the reason spend all the time and effort to print letterpress that looks like offset, when I could just go to kinkos and get ti printed offset, but that it the dispute between old time printers and the new style printers. They hate us and we hate them.

Anyone can print the way that I do, really. Jordan, Justine & mjp will probably agree. It is not as much talent as it is dedication. Not only is it expensive to buy and move a 1200 lb presses and store 100 cases of type, paper, ink, furniture, etc, but it takes up a ton of space. My little 200 sq foot garage was converted into a print shop and i have friends that have a 2,000 sqft shop. Anyone that makes the trip out here and spends a weekend with me can design and print just as good as me, if not better, which makes the term "Master Printer" in my case, much more of a nice compliment than a reality.

I would rather the term "Insanely Obsessed Printer", but that would not sell as many broadsides.

Bill

 

[mjp]

They consider those of us that print into the paper to be talentless hacks. Of course, I fail to see the reason spend all the time and effort to print letterpress that looks like offset...

Today, yes. There is no point. But I think that bias stems from the days before cheap offset, when all job printing was letterpress.

When I became an offset printer in the late 70s, letterpress was already long gone. They taught it in trade schools and even some high schools (that's where I first did it), but for job printing, the small offset presses like the Multilith and AB Dick had killed letterpress (and then would promptly be killed themselves by "desktop publishing"). That is the time when most of the letterpress equipment and type was scrapped, before it regained some popularity as a fringe service. You could haul away an entire letterpress operation for the price of a truck rental. No one wanted that stuff.

I think the only reason many of the old C&P presses (like Bill uses) still exist is because printing shops used them for short run die cutting. That was the only reason to have one around for a long, long time.

 

[bospress.net]

Today, yes. There is no point. But I think that bias stems from the days before cheap offset, when all job printing was letterpress.

I agree. It is quite something to see a piece of paper 22 x 30 printed in nearly solid text (sometimes including a woodcut) and not only is every letter perfectly printed, but you can barely see on the reverse the indentation of the type. It is something that I could not do. I would not even attempt. I do not have the skills at make-ready (putting little slips of paper below pieces of type to raise them up to .918".) This not only takes crazy talent, but patience. You have to proof the print, cut, glue the "make ready", proof again, make ready, proof, make ready, etc, etc until it is perfect.

Bill

p.s. for a printing lesson, modern type is .918" high out of the package, in theory. It can get worn down by use and is sometimes not perfect coming out of the box anyway (.01" will screw you up if you are trying for a perfect "Kiss" Impression). You can compensate for this by printing heavier (with more impression) into the paper. That way, all the letters print well. If you back off the pressure, letters start to get lighter and some drop out altogether. This would require putting layer after layer of tissue paper below each piece of low type until it is tall enough. There is another way to do it, but that is harder to explain (putting it on the platen).

 

[mjp]

I think it was a lot easier in the days when type was just a cheap commodity and you could toss any imperfect letters into a melt bucket or just grab a brand new font off the shelf and break it open.

Now you have to eek every use you can out of old fonts. You end up with these kinds of problems because, well, there just isn't another 'n' you can use. You have what you have and you have to make it work.

But then that's what makes it fun, right? ;)

 

[Stavrogin]

When I read these threads where you offset printer types get all inclusive and geek out on each other I'm like, Christ!! What printer type nerds these people are!! And then I benefit from you printer nerds and I'm humble. More sweat and work goes in to it than I could probably ever imagine. I buy the end result of all that sweat and hard work. Master Printers aren't a dime a dozen, but there are a few that are luckily known here.