I was at the Salon du Livre book fair in Geneva. At one point I looked up and saw the words “Atelier Typographique” on a banner. My eyes wandered back downward and saw a tabletop letterpress in the process of being inked. I made a beeline for the stand. There were special post cards being printed, on the spot, using a vintage press; the post cards bore book- and reading-related quotations, in honor of the book fair.

Wow! Aside from the printing press, the display included handcrafted books and cards, all of them printed using handset metal or wooden type. I ran my hands over the gorgeously-thick sheets of paper, feeling the impression of words as well as seeing them. When I shared my delight, out loud, with the fellow working the press, I clearly startled him. He looked at me a bit suspiciously. The other visitors were browsing in silence. 

“Who are you and where are you?” I blurted out in French. My fellow browsers seemed already familiar with the work of Le Cadratin, a letterpress print shop owned and run by Jean-Renaud Dagon. It’s located in Vevey, Switzerland, about half an hour away from where I live. What a find!

My French couldn’t keep up with my enthusiasm. Lucky for me there was an English-speaking woman who came to my aid. She turned out to be an Australian ex pat who’s apprenticed herself to Monsieur Dagon. She’d come upon his shop window one day during a walk. The next day she’d worked up enough courage to enter the shop and chat with Dagon. A week later, she’d persuaded him to take her on as an apprentice. That was six months ago. Now, she’s helping with some of his regular work and doing her own creative projects to deepen her studies.

We had an animated conversation about letterpress printing that clearly confounded the gentlemen printers. I learned that there’s another letterpress printing revival in process. For years, these vintage tabletop presses were easily had for only a few hundred dollars. Now, they can command about a thousand. When you compare this to the cost of a laptop computer whose lifespan is only a few years, a tabletop press seems like a bargain.

In addition to the special edition post cards, Les Sixtations, I bought a post card that has nothing but the alphabet printed on it, set in 60 point Garamond capital letters using the classic red ink that typographers have been using for centuries. I can close my eyes and feel the shape of each letter impressed on the paper. And I’m dreaming about ways to use the letterpress mastery of Le Cadratin in my next design project.