Early smoking cannon with thirty-four star old glory flag. A gorgeous 19th century cut made prior to 1891. Marked on the side as produced by the Johnson Foundry, Philla. Actually the foundry mark of MacKellar, Smiths and Jordan, who called the foundry "The Johnson Foundry" out of affection for the former owner, L. Johnson Foundry (1843 - 1860). The Mackeller, Smiths and Jordan foundry was in operation from 1867 until 1892, when they were absorbed into the American Type Founders.

This exceptional block features the classic image of Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware . It is a metal alloy face mounted on hardwood printer’s block. Ink stamped on the backside from DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) magazine, in which publication this block was last used.

The Historic Delaware River crossing took place in the dead of night on December 25, 1776. They were on their way to surprise and capture the Hessian forces in Trenton, NJ. Leading up to what is now termed the Battle of Trenton. The Hessians were German forces fighting for the British and had a large encampment in Trenton. George Washington and 2000 of his troops crossed the river in perilous conditions. Although the graphic shows them standing in the boat, it is highly unlikely that would have been possible. The assault was a complete success and the Colonial forces managed to capture 900 Hessian soldiers. In addition, they were also able to secure some very valuable resources of food, supplies, and ammunition.

This block represents one of the most famous images of the American Revolution. Printed today by computers, this is a true piece of American printing history. The graphic is based on an Historic painting by Emanuel Leutze, 1851. The painting can be viewed today in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art .

Food packaging and labeling has changed so much through the years. Part of our collection consists of classic American food advertisement blocks of the past. With the digital age it is very easy to manipulate and change labels or advertisements on a daily basis. Computers and printers spit out labels on huge rolls or sheets to feed monstrous machines in a mass production line. Colors can be changed and added with the simple task of data input. Graphics can be changed at the click of a button. The output is unlimited and revisions to labeling designs are continuous and relatively inexpensive.

Line Blocks are made from copper or zinc and are approximately 6 points thick. They are mounted on hardwood, usually boxwood, to make a finished height of approximately .918 inches (type-high)

Halftone Blocks are made from zinc or copper and are approximately 6 points thick. The image is broken up into small dots. They are mounted on hardwood, usually boxwood, to make a finished height of approximately .918 inches (type-high)

Electrotypes have a copper printing surface backed with stereo metal and are approximately 12 points thick. They are mounted on hardwood, usually boxwood, to make a finished height of approximately .918 inches (type-high)

Stereotypes are made from plastic, rubber or an alloy of lead antimony and tin and are approximately 12 points thick. They are mounted on hardwood, usually boxwood, to make a finished height of approximately .918 inches (type-high)

Note: Stereotypes and electrotypes can be nickel faced for longer life. To identify each, compare the non-printing areas. The stereos usually are rough in these areas and electros are usually quite smooth.

Wood type are solid blocks of hardwood with raised image on the topside.

Linoleum Blocks are a this sheet of linoleum mounted to a hardwood block. The linoleum is manually carved to created the preferred graphic.

Our “Western” affair with wood type began in 1827 by Darius Wells of New York. He created a process to draw the letter on a wood block and then carve around the letter with hand tools. He later introduced the basic invention of a Lateral Router. Along with the Pantograph introduced by William Leavenworth in 1834, they now had the essential materials for mass-producing wood type. Following his initial presentation of wood type in 1827, other designers and manufacturers began producing wood type blocks.

We are often asked how we clean the surface of these very old printer's blocks. We do not recommend the use of abrasive cleaning solutions. The product we use is Nev-R-Dull. A lot of elbow grease could be required for some very oxidized surfaces. However the rewards far outweigh the effort. This product can be found at most Hardware and some Grocery stores. If there is a tough ink on the surface, you could use a paint thinner to remove most prior to cleaning. The finished product is worth the effort.

Prior to the Digital Age, newspapers, books, posters, tickets, forms, and all other types of printed-paper were produced with a Printing Press. To form the words, movable type was used and print blocks would be used along side to add images or decorations around the text. A print block is also known as a letterpress cut or a printing die.



Inserting a print block along side the type would have produced any graphics, images or pictures. The type and print blocks are set into a frame, known as a chase. Ink is rolled over the surface of the type and blocks with a roller, known as a brayer. The paper is then pressed onto the inked surface. The process was done on a The process was done on a Printing Press. These were manually operated in the early days until automation replaced the manual models. This would create the printed document.

This process was also known as relief printing. Which is a process consisting of cutting or etching a printing surface in such a way that all that remains of the original surface is the design to be printed. Examples of relief-printing processes include woodcut, relief etching, linocut, and metal cut.

In contrast to the above method is a process known as intaglio printing, pronounced in-tal-yo. Using this process, the areas to print are recessed. Ink is applied to the surface and recessed areas. The ink is then wiped away from the surface prior to printing. The paper will pull the ink from the recessed areas to create the printed image.

The process of creating a printed book or newspaper was quite different in the past. It was a laborious process in the beginning. A person would set individual letter blocks (type) into a frame to create the titles and sentences. A graphic print block would be added along side of the type for any pictorial images.

The surface of the blocks would be inked and then applied to a paper surface with sufficient pressure to transfer the image. The process is called Type Setting and Letterpress Printing.

The birth of letterpress printing in Europe came in the 15th century. Although printing with wood blocks has deeper roots in the Far East, Johannes Gutenberg developed “reusable movable type”, the basic principle that was used well into the 20th century. The invention of movable type allowed Gutenberg to print the first historic 42-line Bible in 1455. This was the first Western mass-produced book, also known as the Gutenberg_Bible.

Letterpress printing became the method of choice, and for the next four hundred years continued to evolve until the introduction of the linotype machine in the late 19th century. Linotype machines soon replaced letterpress as the primary printing method.

Letterpress printing today is thriving with a great number of individuals personally dedicated to the preservation of this historic art form. Visit some of the links and you can see some of the important people maintaining this art-from, hopefully for generations or even centuries to come!

This letterpress blog will be much different than any others currently on-line. The focus of the blog will be on antique printer’s blocks, aka letterpress cuts. Most other blogs in the letterpress arena are in reference to actual letterpress printing operations. We would recommend visiting some of them to get an idea of the high quality work others are producing using this Historic method. There are some exceptional letterpress printing operations and individuals out there and they would welcome your support, business, questions, or comments.

We've created this blog as an extension of our Damosel's Printers Blocks website. The blog will allow us to expand on our descriptions and offer more in-depth information on specific blocks. We have modified the appearance to not follow the standard blog templates and hope that it offers an interesting and enjoyable experience. We will do our best to keep the content interesting and consistent.

At Damosel’s Printers Blocks we carry a wide range of Historic antique blocks. Topics range from simple graphics to very ornate designs. All of our blocks are from the mid to late 19th century, and into the 20th century. We have many categories listed, some of which include:

Early Political and Patriotic Print Blocks

Early Foundry Cast Printers Type Blocks

Early Farm and Wild Animal Print Blocks

Early Fraternal Logos and Symbols Print Blocks

Early Holiday Topic Print Blocks

Early Billhead and Document Print Blocks

Early Foundry Identification and Pin Mark Library

WWI era Eickhorn German Edged Weapon Print Blocks

Classic American Advertisement Print Blocks

Sports Related Print Blocks

There are wood type, copper face, white metal face, foundry cast, and linoleum face. Our collection continues to grow and we will be adding many new items this year. We are committed to maintaining a website that offers insight to printing and publishing methods and materials of the past.

Please visit us and have a look around. We offer a gallery for viewing, information and links pages, as well as an on-line store. There are blocks available for purchase from $1 and up.



Below we have left this first post loaded with Nucleus links and information for those interested in evaluating or using a Nucleus CMS Blog. A lot of people worked very hard to offer such incredible, free software. We feel it is only right to give credit where credit is due.