Letterpress printing is not particularly uncommon. What makes the method of printing employed at HM somewhat uncommon, is the handpress. Like Briony’s etchings, each sheet is inked and printed by hand. There is no automation of any kind involved. The amount of ink on the roller must be assessed, and often adjusted, after each impression. The degree of control required, and possible, makes the work slow and fussy. No wonder the commercial printers were happy to abandon the handpress for automated Heidelbergs and Vandercooks. But for people interested in fine printing, the handpress is fundamental. There’s a reason Kelmscott, Doves and Ashendene books were printed with the handpress.

The handpress also explains the edition size: to get the 56 copies needed (50 numbered + 6 hors commerce), I’ll be printing 70 sheets, to allow for boneheadery. Adding about 10 or 15 proofs at the start, inking and printing that many impressions takes about eight hours. Printing damp, I have to work off one side of a sheet in a day (and verso the next; paper stays damp only so long), hence the upper limit of how many copies can be in a HM edition. Briony’s aquatint printing is even slower, and the plates wear with each impression, so that’s another reason.