After the Swoop

/
 

You came, you saw, you swooped up a lot of great type, ornaments, wood type and more. Fifty plus people over two days; beyond our expectations! It's meant some serious time/work to get it all organized again as there are still 300+ type fonts left. True, the real rare ones are gone, but if you're just starting to build your type inventory, there's still a good selection of the more "common" working fonts. There's even a few sets of wood type left! 

Some of the items originally only available at the swoop will now be available online and will be posted on the website later this week.

 

Preparations Underway

/
 

A couple weeks ago the real task of situating 20 plus cabinets on the floor began. Simple to arrange paper rectangles on grid paper. With the need to consider floor loading and allowing for plenty of room to pull and set case selections aside, it took a bit of pushing, pulling, coaxing to get them all arranged. Several tables are being heaped with all sorts of letterpress paraphernalia, while ornaments and print plates are being displayed on a slanted working top. And wood type fonts are being transferred into the Barrett's nationally recognized pizza boxes. It's just a week away, and there's lots more to get done, but come 9:00 a.m. Saturday the 21st, we'll be ready.

 
 
 

Swoop Retrieval Run

/
 

            Hmm, cell phone says it’s Andrew Churchman calling. With the usual pleasantries done, he’s got a situation to discuss. Seems the children of a fellow living in Connecticut are faced with the daunting task of disposing of their father’s print shop in preparation to sell the house. The fellow has been a lifelong letterpresser having amassed a considerable amount of type (reportedly 25+ cabinets!) It all needs to be removed, and soon! Andrew’s situation - he’s in Indianapolis and the logistics of packing and transporting such a large purchase from a distance are very challenging. Have I any thoughts or suggestions. My response - let’s relocate it all to Letterpress Things and have a good ole’ fashioned SWOOP!

           Thus it began. Andrew flew in, met with the family and crafted an agreement. Andrew and I then worked out details for us to remove the shop’s contents and prepare for a sales event at the store. Now, all that was left to do was. . . move it all!  

           The contents were in a building, once a barn but converted for general use, with one room housing the print shop. There were cabinets, and other stuff, throughout the entire building, including on a second floor once used for hay. The retrieval began on Friday, December 29th. With my son Joe along to help, packing, staging and loading of the van began. The day was bright and sunny, and cold! Minus 11 degrees by the barn thermometer.

           The Plan - empty the loft through the loft door, many empty cases, four cabinets. The van is filled front to back and to the roof. We start packing “things” in the print shop; cartons of books, paper, loose tools, leads and slugs from their cabinets onto galleys, etc. It all had to go.

           Day two, Saturday, December 30th, began at 6 a.m., in the dark at Ryder Truck Rental to pick up a 16 footer with a lift gate. As daylight broke it was a bit warmer, about 10 degrees. The sky was deep gray; snow in the forecast. Fortified with extra large cups of Dunkin’ Donut coffee (no heat in the building, by the way), Dave (a longtime associate accustomed to such activity), Joe and myself arrived  shortly after 8 a.m. Alas, so did the snow, continuing all day with about five inches of accumulation.

           The Plan - get it all loaded. So it began; pull a case, check it’s weigh, slip sideways out the door, shuffle along a snowy path about 50 feet up an embankment, and place the case(s) on a pallet on the lift gate. When full, relocate pallet inside truck. Then the presses; strapped to a two wheeler and dragged up the path, wrestled onto the lift gate, in the snow. After the presses came the cabinets, a couple anyway. The truck is now at weight capacity, so we pile in, head back to Chicopee, off-load and return.

           It’s now 4 p.m., daylight is waning, the temperature dropping, and there's a lot yet to load. Over the next four hours the remaining cabinets, and dozens of boxes, galleys, and buckets were hauled out, palletized, and shrink wrapped. At about 10:00 p.m., with every last thing in the truck loaded and secured, with tired, aching muscles, and now under the light of a full moon, we drove off to our respective homes for hot showers and bed. Despite it all, there’s an undefinable satisfaction about what’s been accomplished. A labor of love, a love of labor!

           Day 3, Sunday, December 31st began sunny, bright, and cold. The Plan - off load the second truck load. After a hearty breakfast, and with Dave’s help, the truck was emptied. Over the next few hours everything had to be moved off the dock to the fourth floor. That’s when and where the real planning started. “How do we fit all those cabinets on the floor, keeping floor loading and accessability in mind!” Eventually it all came together. Now it’s time to plan a Swoop! Follow along the next several weeks for details about the Swoop itself.

 

Gelbert Swoop 2.0

/
 

The Howie Gelbert Swoop on April 14th was well attended.

It was really nice to see so many letterpressers out and about on such a gorgeous Spring day.

The Swoop continues this Saturday, April 29th for anyone who couldn't make it earlier this month.

 

There's still a good variety of type fonts available as well as a furniture and reglet cabinet,

an Enkay Paper Trimmer, a 5 x 8 Kelsey, a half-size cabinet (12 cases), and a short open case cabinet in green.

 
 

Of course, there's lots of store inventory as well, including a rare item for us; 100 sheets of large rag paper.

See you Saturday! 

Swoop Details

/

Just a day left until this Saturday's Swoop at Letterpress Things. There's a nice variety of "finds" from Howie's printshop.

Presses, such as a Vandercook 099, 5 x 8 and 3 x 5 Kelseys, as well several toy presses with rollers.

There's several books including catalogs and 40 plus ITC type specimen pamphlets.

 
 

We've got cases filled with over one hundred fonts of type including:

Caslon, Gallia, Raleigh, Shadow, Comstock and many others.

 
 
 
 

You'll also find couple of fonts of wood type alongside plates, ornaments,

- and several tables of good ole' fashioned "letterpress things."

The weather's looking good, so come out and make a spring day trip to Chicopee!

Gelbert Swoop

/
 
 
 

Several weeks ago, a three day truck trip was made to Central Pennsylvania to retrieve an entire basement print shop. The shop belonged to Howie Gelbert, recently passed, a long-time avid letterpress printer, member of APA and the Westchester Chapel.

 
 
 
 
 

His entire shop- presses, type, tools, accessories, books - is now on the floor at the store and available to letterpress printers on Saturday, April 15th continuing on Saturday, April 29th.

 
 
 
 
 

A more detailed inventory of type and things will be posted in another blog soon. Sorry, no holds and no pre-sales.