"first it was a hobby, then it became a disease, and now it's an obsession", that's what mr. paul aken, letterpress guru and owner of The Platen Press Museum - A working museum dedicated to preserving the arts of hot metal casting and composition, letterpress, multigraphing, stone lithography and bookbinding, said to my husband and i this past saturday. this was my second visit to the museum {my husband's first} yet awe inspiring nonetheless. when you first walk in, this is what it reads...
and the past, it truly is. mr. aken's collection is ridiculous {ridiculous, used in the slang way meaning good}. he has literally, hundreds of presses, in all different sizes, everywhere you turn.
he has big presses...
medium sized presses...
and teeny tiny presses...
he also has book presses...
dingbats galore...
cabinets and cabinets to the ceiling of type...
and so much more. we were actually there for a purpose, to get some assistance on one of my presses, but i wasn't listening much. thank goodness that my husband listened to mr. aken because i was too busy drooling and taking photos. ahhhh... the platen press museum... good times.
i won't be posting much this week, err or even maybe next week, as i have a lot of printing to do. fun!
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What high school did paul teach? I taught at Zion high school from 1968 and 1969 then at 1970 to 1999 at Evanston twp high school.