Columbian press

This super-royal Columbian press was made by Ritchie and Son of Edinburgh, Scotland in about 1860. The maker's label reads: "RITCHIE & SON / MAKERS / EDINBURGH." The press has a height of 89 inches a width overall of 53 inches and a length overall of 66 inches; its platen measures 21 inches by 29 inches.

The Columbian press was invented in 1813 by George Clymer (1754-1834), a Philadelphia mechanic. Clymer had begun building wooden presses in 1800, then later, versions of the new iron presses from Europe. His Columbian was original, not only for its extravagant design but also for its levers and counterweights. It was well received, although its cost, at $400, was more than twice the price of a wooden press. Clymer was not satisfied with the market he found in the United States, perhaps because printers were not yet ready to give up their old wooden presses, so in 1818 he took his business to England and found much greater success. His first English presses carried his own name, and in 1825 William Dixon joined the company, and the presses showed both names. From the 1840s, they were manufactured by several dozen companies all over Europe.

Although Clymer had made and sold presses in Philadelphia, no American Columbians are known to survive there. The Washington press came to occupy the place, in nineteenth-century American printing offices, that the Columbian and Albion were to hold in Britain. The only Columbians existing in the United States in recent year were made in Europe, and brought here some time later.

Donated by Taylor & Taylor, San Francisco, 1961.

Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.

Currently not on view