Field Notes: United States of Letterpress

Featuring the work of nine independent letterpress shops from across America. This series demonstrates a wide array of craftsmanship, ingenuity, and love for the age-old and tactile process of letterpress printing.

With the help of friends at Finch Paper of Glens Falls, New York, and The French Paper Company of Niles, Michigan, Field Notes shipped each shop a different color cover stock (all from French’s Pop-Tone line) and specified the same two ink colors (Rubine Red and Process Blue) for all of them. The results are as varied and thoughtful as the participants involved.

Continuing a tradition embossed into the history of American letterpress printing, the layouts, themes and messages are highly personal statements about heritage, geography, tradition, and social issues, and they also demonstrate the diversity and strength of today’s letterpress community.

Pack A
Includes one cover designed by Full-Circle Press of Nevada City, California. One of two by Genghis Kern of Denver, Colorado. One of two by Mama’s Sauce of Orlando, Florida.

Pack B
Includes one of two cover designs by Springtide Press of Tacoma of Washington, One of two by Brad Vetter of Louisville, Kentucky. One of two by Ben Blount of Evanston, Illinois.

Pack C
Includes one of two cover designs by Rick Griffith of Denver, Colorado. One of two by Erin Beckloff of Springboro, Ohio. One cover by Starshaped Press of Chicago, Illinois.

1. Proudly printed by the good people of Lake County Press, Waukegan, Ill.
   
2. Cover: Printed on 1 of 6 French Pop-Tone 100#C stocks with a thick, brute force, 1-color application of “Linotype Slug Gray” soy-based Superior ink. It was then sent to 1 of 6 Letterpress printers around the U.S.A. and smashed with a 2-color application of “Process Blue” and “Rubine Red” letterpress inks.
   
3. Innards: Finch Paper Opaque Smooth 60#T “Bright White,” with a fine, 1-color application of “Double Knee Duck Canvas Light Brown” soy-based Toyo ink.
   
4. Cover and innards printed on a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 40" 6-color printing press, as well as various vintage presses (see flyleaf for more details).
   
5. Bound with a Heidelberg Stitchmaster ST 270 5-pocket saddle stitcher with cover feeder/scorer & Rima RS 10S in-line stacker.
   
6. Corners precisely rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius with a Challenge DCM double round-corner machine.
   
7. Memo book dimensions are 3-1/2" × 5-1/2" (89mm × 140mm).
   
8. Graph grid: 3/16" × 3/16" (4.7mm × 4.7mm).