Our equipment

Expedition Press is a production shop, with teaching activities and events squeezed in on the side. We primarily design and print from handset type on antique presses. We occupy a 600 square foot space with an office and press room that's chock full of type, printing presses, paper, and ink.

Our three main presses are a 1961 Heidelberg Windmill, a 1950 Vandercook No. 4, and a 1901 Golding Jobber. We also have two tabletop presses: a Nolan proof press and a nipping press. In the paper cutting department, we have a 26in Chandler & Price guillotine. We also have a 1-inch button maker and a 1930s Remington Rand typewriter. Mechanically, our machines run the gamut from hand-fed treadle-operated (the Golding) to auto-fed motorized (the Heidelberg).

Type-wise, well — we have lots of type. Five cabinets and two galley racks densely packed. Mostly metal, but a healthy collection of wood type too. We're into poetry, so of course book-sized metal type suits our work well. Perpetua is our house serif (though we long for more Garamond) and Standard Medium is our house sans. We also have a decent run of Caslon and a lot of display faces.

Provenance

The heart of our collection came from Stern & Faye, Printers: imposing stone, furniture rack, the Golding, and most of the type. The Heidelberg came from Oak Harbor by way of Jami and Terry of Sherwood Press and the Vandercook came from Viktor and Diane of Watermark Bindery on Marrowstone Island. Most our wood type was a gift from Susan of Record Printing in Thorp, WA. The Nolan came from Michael Hepher of Clawhammer Press in Fernie BC and the nipping press was a gift from Dave Myhre of Duckabush Bindery. It was spray-painted silver; several hours of careful lacquer thinner application revealed the original black finish and gold pin striping! You never know what's going to show up.

We have huge gratitude for what's come our way and we care for it all with great love. We consider ourselves stewards first, owners second. Our equipment has lived a few lives longer than us and we want it to live many lives more. Case in point, when we moved our shop from Kingston to Seattle in 2023, we gifted type, cabinets, our first press, and many small tools to former interns starting their own shops! An honor to pass it on.