I got up early this morning to catch a train and a bus out to Westzaan to drop in on de Stichting Lettergieten 1983. On the way there I passed by the storefront of Typique–a letterpress card shop on Haarlemmerdijk–and made a note to visit at the end of the day.
After several adventures on the bus out in the sticks of Westzaan I finally both remembered to stop the bus and also got out at the right stop. The air of this little town northwest of Amsterdam reminded me of springtime in Vermont. Which is to say it’s an agricultural zone where cows still have a place. Feeling homey, I walked over to the address.
There was a hum of activity at Lettergieten 1983. It turns out they were managing the sale of several presses from an estate so people were dropping in to look at them. I was very tempted by Heidelberg but shipping and all that would probably have been rough.
The guys at the shop showed me around and, once they learned that I knew a couple small things, took care to show me “the good stuff.” I don’t think I have ever seen so many mats and die-cases in one place at one time. Or wedges. Or supercaster mats. They’ve really got quite a significant collection of material.
More importantly, they’re casting with it.
The trouble with old machines is that if they don’t get used then they rust and they break and the knowledge needed to run them atrophies and then disappears. This is why people who work with Monotype typically speak of museums in the same tone of voice that they speak of funeral parlors–it’s where machinery goes to be destroyed.
I didn’t want to get in the way of their production so I didn’t stay long. But I did get a chance to watch them troubleshoot an issue with the type carrier related to making a run of Hebrew type.
Everyone was very friendly and knowledgeable and I hope to visit them again the next time I’m in Europe.
Tomorrow I head back, as does Julia. Then the real work begins. Cleaning the machines and firing them back up.
I can’t wait!