Introduction: What is Letterpress?

Letterpress History

Moveable type was invented in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg. He created individually cast reusable metal letters that could be set into a wooden screw press.

Modern presses automatically feed sheets of paper, ink the rollers, and impress the image, allowing for a higher volume of prints than the original screw press.

Letterpress Terminology

Almost all of our modern typesetting terms come from historical letterpress phrases:

• Leading: Originates from the strips of lead used to create gaps between rows of text

• Blind Emboss: Letterpressing without ink

• Color Separations: The process of separating color components for printing

Minted Letterpress

Every Minted Wedding Letterpress invitation is produced by an individual press operator, who hand-feeds each piece of paper into antique Heidelberg presses to achieve a unique impression.

In the digital age, letterpress is a return to a slower pace of life and a focus on quality workmanship.

Every letterpress invitation has a printer behind it who is responsible for everything from hand-inking the press, setting it up, and checking each invitation as it comes off the press.