How I Got Involved in Letterpress
Printing: i loved books since childhood. created a decimal system for my 'library' in 4th grade. i still have a few book marked as
such. majored in painting in college. more artists in the family than musicians so it seemed the right tack. hmm coulda been
a guitar god... oh well. started interning at Hill Holiday Adverts Boston in 1984 in the studio. get the skillz to pay the bills.
was asked back the next two summers by Hill's Studio Manager, the late Bob Stacy. He was one hot shit. so yes, that's right, i've
got the hand skillz and i got the eye. out of school with a BFA, i found a job running the studio of a tiny agency on Boylston Street,
Boston. three years at Hill served me well. handled all the ad production. cold type galleys would come in and i'd lay out, ink and
paste up ads. glue pots, rubylith, rapidographs, triangles and x-actos of various blade styles and sizes. analog baby. out of school
a couple years and doing the "advertising production studio" thing, working with type all day every day wrapping lines, kerning, leading
out linotronic repro type, I took a class sponsored by the Letterpress Guild of New England at the Boston Center for Adult Education,
and was hooked. became shop monitor, joined the Guild, found the SP15 and started making phone calls. my first piece was a 2 color
holiday card for 1988. horrible. just horrible. second piece was my wedding invitation. not much better, however did by the script
type for it while standing on the ground in Barcelona at Fundicion Tipografica Neufville (now renamed FT Bauer). hundreds of greater
and lesser pieces later, the rest is still evolving. see my site for details. not mentioned on the site. I was author and editor of
the Letterpress Guild of New England Newsletter for a few years in the early '90s. they were all done on the computer and the digital
files have vaporized, so i have no record of them. there are probably single copies in my files somewhere. ahh ephemera. I printed
up 2c letterpress letterhead for it to photocopy onto. i was also President of the Letterpress Guild during that time. Two year stints.
i followed Dorothea Black in '92 and was followed by Dick Rubinstein in '94. i was nominated and elected to membership in the Society
of Printers, Boston in May 2005, the Society's centenary year. I feel honored and connected to printing history and some of it's most
illustrious practitioners.
Presses & Equipment: SP15 - serial no. 23339 - shipped week of 8/13/1963; Chandler &
Price Old Style 8 x 12 - 27227; Chandler & Price 26" lever cutter; Hamilton G100 Glider composing room saw; Helmold Heavy Duty
Bender; Helmold Heavy Duty Notcher; much foundry type & ornament
Work History: bought the SP15 on February 8, 1992. moved
it to its' present location August 1992. the rest of the shop has slowly grown around it.
Education: High School Grad -
Wayzata Senior High, Wayzata, Minnesota - 1981
College Grad - Hartford Art School - 1986 - BFA - Major: Painting, Minor: Art History
Other
Interests/Hobbies: Book collecting, particularly Books on Books, typography, practical printing and ancillaries. Record &
CD collecting. Design. Fixed-gear single-speed bicycling fast on busy streets. vegetarian. guitarist. gardener.
Group Memberships,
if any: Letterpress Guild of New England - 1990 - present; Society of Printers, Boston - 2005 - present
Email Address: mjb@interrobangletterpress.com
Website: www.interrobangletterpress.com www.linotypesetting.com
Birth Date or
Birth Year: 8/15/63
