Photo: Melanie Stetson Freeman/CSM staff.
In his Maine shop, master printmaker David Wolfe uses machines from bygone eras to create.
Don’t you love the look of old-time lead type printing? I once ordered sweet business cards from a New Shoreham letterpress, no longer operating, and Suzanne has often used Jacque’s Offset in Providence. Today’s story is about a letterpress in Maine that got some attention in the movies.
Jennifer Wolcott reports at the Christian Science Monitor, “Visitors to David Wolfe’s printing shop in Portland, Maine, can’t miss the statuesque Civil War-era Tufts hand-press machine that stands tall near the front door. It exited that same door several years ago, headed for a movie set.
“For its cameo in the 2019 film, his ‘Little Women machine,’ as he calls it, was hauled down to Massachusetts. Mr. Wolfe accompanied it, dressed in 1860s costume for his role as the printer of Jo March’s book. Yet as he recalls, laughing, ‘Only my hands made the cut.’
“Wolfe Editions is a place buzzing with activity. The master printmaker and fine artist treasures his many letterpress machines not only for their place in history, but also for their ability to help him craft exquisitely beautiful books, prints, posters, and more. They are essential tools for daily production, ones that stand out in an ever more high-tech world.
“Rather than using bits and bytes, Mr. Wolfe prints just as Johannes Gutenberg did when he developed the process of letterpress printing in the 15th century to make his famous Bible: Letters are cast in lead, then locked together, inked, and pressed into paper.
“ ‘The computer didn’t kill my business. It made it stronger,’ he says, noting that he’s also benefited from recent interest in the lost art of letterpress printing. ‘The product I make is high end, and computers took over all the other stuff.’ …
“On a recent afternoon, he has just paused production of an edition of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men while waiting for a shipment of handmade paper. He’s using the time instead to create designs for one son’s new canned cocktails company (his other son is a printer). He’s also teaming up with artist and friend Charlie Hewitt to design a poster commemorating the anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s fight in Lewiston, Maine.
“Mr. Hewitt has known Mr. Wolfe for 20 years, has collaborated with him on multiple projects, and happens to have a studio right next door. He says it’s important to the printmaker to pass down the old techniques to a new generation. ‘He is always training and teaching others. He is incredibly generous, remarkably skilled, and brings so much to every medium,’ Mr. Hewitt adds. …
“Mr. Wolfe’s letterpress and hot-metal casting machines, about 10 in all, fill his spacious shop – a former bakery. Despite their age and frequent use, the devices appear impeccably cared for. …
“Not only is he passionate about his work, but it suits him. ‘Letterpress printing couldn’t be more tedious,’ he says. ‘But I like tedium.’ … Lately he’s been mentoring an apprentice, a student from nearby Maine College of Art & Design, who shares his taste in music and also for tedium. ‘I’ll ask Claire to put away the type,’ he says, ‘and she’ll respond, “Oh, I love putting away type!” ‘ …
“Mr. Wolfe has taught at schools in Maine including Bowdoin College, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Gould Academy. He’s also shared his expertise further afield, at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and Penland School of Craft in North Carolina.
“He most enjoys the workshop format, for its small size and short duration. ‘It’s more intense when you have to cover a lot in a short amount of time, and students in workshops are typically motivated and excited about learning.’ …
“Mr. Hewitt recalls a project he and Mr. Wolfe worked on together: the illuminated neon ‘Hopeful’ sign mounted in 2019 on the roof of Speedwell Projects, a nonprofit gallery in Portland. ‘I wanted to use the word “Hopeful,” and I scribbled it on paper for David,’ he explains. ‘I needed a master printer to facilitate the process and create the font.’
“Mr. Hewitt says he was elated with the design – inspired by the building’s history as an auto dealership, typeface from the badge of a 1940s Packard, and his own love for 1960s counterculture. …
“For his part, Mr. Wolfe relishes collaborations like that one: the process of give and take, the creative energy, the mutual admiration. Or as he puts it, ‘I enjoy helping people realize their ideas. It broadens my scope, and artists are pushing the mediums beyond what they were using before.’ “
More at the Monitor, here. No paywall.
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