Looking for this week’s inspiration post was a bit more of a challenge than it usually is. Don’t get me wrong, I look at all sorts of inspiring pieces throughout the week, but this time, nothing stuck out. Sometimes, it just takes some of your favorite people to help you out. My favorite mister sent me a little ole link-y link to this article. He knows how much I geek out over all things related to printing and design (plus he’s pretty wonderful and enjoys seeing me nerd out).
The article describes a hymnal, dating from 1640, that is set to go up for auction and could bring $30 million. While, the auction price doesn’t intrigue me a ton (unless they want to send some of that cash this way), I was really interested in the fact that this was supposedly the first printed book in the Americas, printing 1,700 copies “on a press shipped over from London.” The permanence of this book and the effect that printing had on the future literacy in America is immense. The printing utilized in creating this hymnal wouldn’t be that different from the type of printing we do at Iron Leaf Press. I like to think that the items we create will bear a sense of permanence as well.
Be sure to check out the article and the photos of the book as well. Have a great Saturday!
Iron Leaf Press

The Spanish were printing in ‘California’ long long long before the British were printing in ‘New England’. They are all neat books, and yes, as neat as your stuff!