The main purpose of this site is to offer detailed information about UK-designed presses. This area will grow as I gather more and put more information online.
There are many ways of categorising printing presses. Working from smaller to larger—
- Hand Presses. Perhaps the most famous hobby hand presses are the Adana Machines, and their almost ubiqutous Adana 8×5. Adana produced a unique style of press, the Adana QH which was coveted by those experimenting in letterpress. A competitor to Adana was Ajax who were around at the height of the Adana’s popularity but little is known of the firm. Long before the Adana and the Ajax, the Model Press was designed to make ‘each man his own printer’.
- Treadle- or Motor-driven Platen Presses. My personal favourite is the Arab Platen Press from Halifax. Another famous treadle press is the Cropper from Nottingham.
- Automatically Fed Presses. The UK competitor to the Heidelberg was the Thompson Platen from Manchester
- Wharfedale Presses. These massive machines were the mainstay of larger-format printing
There are many other UK makers of presses, but the absence of any real information means I can’t write up a significant amount. If you know of other presses please drop me a line