On a recent visit to Gase's Auction house in Diss, Norfolk I spotted an Albion Press for sale amongst the antiques. I fell in love at first sight and was transported back to the print room in Waltham Forest School of Art. I knew I had to bring this wonderful machine back to life.
I returned the next day to the auction, and had the winning bid. I called a farmer friend who had a van, and we transported it back to the studio. there press was so heavy it had to be dismantled into 5 sections, even then, we just managed to move it.
The following images show the stages of restoration which occurred in the the week following my acquisition.
Press with Platen and Tympan removed ready for refurbishing
Piston and Bar mechanism
I had to dismantle the different mechanisms for the press so that I could clean and restore it for use, this process included using a wire brush to remove the rust bloom and loose paint.
Platen showing the four adjustable bolts during cleaning
Press printing bed ready for removal
Press with bed removed showing slide rails
Cleaned print Bed back on the rails
Once I had cleaned the mechanism and frame I focussed on the tympan, while doing this I discovered some newspaper packing from 1961 with an article discussing the abolishment of hanging!
Tympan ready to cleaned, painted and recovered
Tympan opened showing newspaper packing from 1961
Refurbished Tympan refitted
Above is the completed restoration in all its glory, and ready to print!
Press reassembled with recovered Tympan and new Drum Straps ready to print.
Two Hundred Years booklet.
Two Hundred Years booklet
Along with the Albion Press came a booklet from the Bartholomew Press, showing the provenance of the machine and those machines that were used alongside it in the commercial printing environment in which it was once used.
This machine was used as a proofing press, and will now be lovingly used for my linocut and woodcut work!