One of my favourite collection items at MOTAT is the Farley Proofing Press located in the Print Shop at MOTAT Great North Road.
Proofing Press [Farley], T12801. Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)
What is it?
It is a table top proofing press with a flat bed, and an adjustable cylinder which is driven by bearers alongside tracks. The press is designed to be adjusted to run at type high or with an added galley height. That means there is a gap of 0.918 inches / 2.33cm between the bed and the cylinder. That’s standard type height in the UK and New Zealand (and many other places). But because it is a proofing press, you can add some height if you are placing a galley, or a metal tray, where set type projects are kept.
It is hand-inked, which means the operator uses a separate hand roller to ink up type of picture blocks in the bed. And it is hand-fed, which means once inked, the operator lines up and places the paper over the type, before rolling the cylinder across.
Where and when was it made?
The Farley Model No 11 was introduced in 1955 and manufactured in Croydon by Farley Engineering Ltd
What’s its NZ story?
Whether this press was purchased through the Farley sole agents in New Zealand, Morrison Printing Inks & Machinery Ltd, or if it was brought to New Zealand from the UK, is unknown.
The press’s provenance is unknown, but since it has been part of the Print Shop Collection it has had a rich history of printing Christmas cards and letters at MOTAT Christmas lights. Thousands of hands have gripped the roller handle and pulled the cylinder to create their very own print. Day to day, the press’s primary job is to pull quick proofs to check how a picture block might look, or to check handset type before it goes on one of the bigger presses for final printing. But the proofing press is also used for final prints when printing something a little more bespoke. It works well with experimental materials and has printed on silk, cotton and tapa cloth.
Why is it important to you?
Because it is hand-fed, hand-inked, and can safely work with experimental materials, this press is an ideal companion to innovative printing methods and suits my art practice to a T. In 2020 the Farley Proofing Press went on loan to the Corban Estate, where an exhibition titled Ground Work was on at The Barrell Store. The opening event had an interactive element where I printed a collectors fern cards based on the historical pteridomania, or fern craze of the 1800s, for everyone to take home. Fern collecting was a very popular hobby, and at its peak people would buy pressed ferns from vendors at train stations all around Britain. Similar activities occurred here in Aotearoa. I was printing directly from a fern specimen: this is called nature printing. The specimen was bracken / aruhe, collected at Corban Estate a month earlier. As I printed, the Western Line train rumbled past. The Farley printed numerous prints for people to take away. One of those prints is now housed at the Angela Morton Room, the Takapuna Library.
By Makyla Curtis
Photos by Richard Kearney
If you would like to share your favourite item in the MOTAT collection, send in a contribution - 200 words, and a link to the item on MOTAT's collections online.
Items can be viewed at https://collection.motat.nz/explore or contact the collections team on collections@motat.org.nz
Above: The Farley Proofing Press in use at Corban Estate, The Barrel Store, February 2020. Photos by Richard Kearney.
Proofing Press [Farley], T12801. Museum of Transport and Technology. (MOTAT)
Comments