The Penrith Museum of Printing is a museum in

Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located in Greater Western Sydney, 55 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. Its elevati ...

, Australia with a focus on Australian

letterpress printing Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing. Using a printing press, the process allows many copies to be produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker comp ...

equipment and techniques.

Establishment

In 1987 Alan Connell (1922–2020), a retired employee of the now defunct printing company '' The Nepean Times'', after walking past the building of the old Nepean Times in Station Street, saw that the equipment used the publication of the newspaper were still there, after 25 years of disuse. He asked the then-owner if he could have some of old equipment to preserve the heritage. The machines where stored and other letterpress equipment was added. The Museum was officially opened on 2 June 2001 by

Jackie Kelly Jacqueline Marie Kelly (born 18 February 1964) is a former Australian politician who served as a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until November 2007, representing the Division of Lindsay, New South Wales ...

, MP for Lindsay, the then Minister for Sport and Tourism as well as with the support of industry organisations and a Commonwealth Government Federation Fund Grant. In September 2017 the Penrith Museum of Printing closed its doors for a major upgrade and added 150 m² to their premises including the addition of a foyer and a library. The $130,000 (AUD) upgrade has given more space to show all working machines and equipment. The museum was reopened by Penrith Councillor Brian Cartwright in November 2018.

Conservation

The Penrith Museum of Printing houses a collection of fully operational letterpress machinery and equipment. A number of the items in the collection are over 150 years old and are still functioning. The objective of the museum is to have all equipment and machinery up and running for all to see and experience. The Penrith Museum of Printing currently has several early 1900 Linotype and Intertype line cast machines, a

Columbian press The Columbian press is a type of hand-operated printing press invented in the United States by George Clymer, around 1813. Made from cast iron, it was a very successful design and many thousands were made by him and by others during the 19th centu ...

from 1841, a

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...

from 1864, the Nepean Times Wharfedale stop cylinder press from around 1880,

Chandler & Price Chandler & Price was founded in 1881 in Cleveland, Ohio, by Harrison T. Chandler and William H. Price. They manufactured machinery for printers including a series of hand-fed platen jobbing presses, as well as an automatic feeder for these press ...

, Arab and Pearl treadle presses, Heidelberg platen and a Miehle vertical cylinder press. The museum featured in the 2018 film Ladies in Black, where it was used to simulate the

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

's compositors' room.

List of machines and equipment on display

Library

The Penrith Museum of Printing has an extensive collection of

books A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ar ...

, manuals, documents and other letterpress printing artefacts which are all available for viewing. While the Museum does not loan books or items from its collection, it is open to view and or study this collection during opening hours.

References

External links

* *
Penrith Museum of Printing reopens after renovations
' * ''Debate Gutenberg vs Coster in the Penrith Museum of Printing
/small>'' * ''Penrith Museum produces Gutenberg models
/small>''
''Visit to Penrith (Australia) Printing Museum, reopened after an eighteen month closure for extension work.''
{{coord, -33.7572, 150.6884, type:landmark_region:AU-NSW, display=title Museums in Sydney Printing museums in Australia