Friday, July 20, 2012

A Sampling of Chicago's Historic Printers Row Printing Museum Comes to the Tampa Book Arts Studio with the Feller Family Collections


Letterpress printer and designer Lester Feller founded the Printer's Row Printing Museum in Chicago in 1980. When it closed in the early 1990s some of the treasures that once formed part of the museum's displays were saved in storage at the home of Les and his wife, Elaine, in Niles, Illinois, a northern suburb of the Windy City.

Now, thanks to the generosity of Les and Elaine these pieces of letterpress history will soon take on new life as they enrich the Tampa Book Arts Studio.

A look inside the storied "Printer's Row Printing Museum."

During the second weekend of July, which followed a week of record-breaking triple-digit temperatures for Chicago, TBAS Letterpress Coordinator Carl Mario Nudi brought his experience of working in Florida summer heat to the task as he rolled up his sleeves and with the help of donors Les and Elaine, packed up the remarkable donation of printing books, plates, presses, and artifacts.