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From The International Printing Museum:
This Washington press is referred to as the "Landcare press" because it was used by the famous 20th Century California wood engraving artist Paul Landcare. The founder of the International Printing Museum acquired the press in the late 1980’s, and it was painted and restored by Vance Gerry, a major storyboard artist for Disney.
The last photo shows the press with a vinyl album cover that features a wood engraving by Paul Landcare depicting part of the press.
Paul Landacre: A Life and a Legacy by Anthony L. Lehman (1983) tells a little more of the story:
The press itself was a Washington Hand Press found in 1929 in the abandoned mining camp of Bodie, California. It was standing rusted and caked with grime in a ramshackle barn that was being held together more by habit than by nails.
The hand press that Willard Morgan had rescued and lugged back to Los Angeles was left with Paul Landacre on indefinite loan when Morgan was suddenly called back to New York to work as sales manager for the Leica camera Company in 1930.
The artist looked in vain to find some name or signature to identify the press further. Cast on the bottom of the bed and also present on the platen and ribs, was what seemed to be the original serial number, 2331; otherwise, all he could find were various part numbers.
Landacre however, loved his press passionately. In November of 1934 he made a remarkable wood-engraving of it that was featured in shows at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, the San Diego Fine Arts Guild, and the American Artists Group in New York. He even included the print two years later in the “institute de Propaganda de l’Art” exhibit in Warsaw, Poland. And when Paul Landacre tragically attempted to take his own life, he asked in his final letter to his half-brother, Joe Landacre, that the press be given to one of his outstanding students at the Otis Art Institute, where the artist had taught for many years. He knew that this talented student would appreciate the press and know how to use it.
This bequest unfortunately was never consummated. Before the press could be disposed of, skilled and obviously knowledgable thieves broke into Landacre’s empty home, apparently disassembled the press and carted it w\away during the night. How they accomplished such a feat without being noticed is beyond conception. It would have taken no less than several men, some type of hoisting apparatus, a truck, and a considerable amount of time and muscle. The larger parts of the press were extraordinarily heavy, and Landacre’s home was built on such a steep hillside that it was impossible to pull a vehicle alongside. But the press was gone anyways.
Some time later, a middle-aged woman walked into the shop of a San Francisco book dealer and asked if he would be interested in buying Paul Landacre’s press. The dealer was naturally intrigued because he had no idea that the press was “hot.” However, before a price could be agreed upon and transportation charges determined, he lost contact with the woman.
Until 1981, the Washington Hand Press that was so painstakingly restored, treasured and utilized by one of America’s foremost wood engraving artist failed to resurface. Then one day Ernest A. Linder, a dedicated Los Angeles collector of antique printing equipment, received a telephone call from a man who offered to sell him a press. When Mr. Lindner went to see it, the once more badly weathered press was standing forlornly under an oak tree in a dirt and weed-infested yard where it had been exposed to the elements for roughly three years. Some critical parts were missing too. Fortunately for the seller, he was not the thief, having come into possession of the press when it was left with him as partial security on a storage bill that was never paid because the man who was seemingly the thief skipped town. Afraid to let the opportunity pass, Lindner bought the press. Later, it was positively identified as Landacre’s by photographs supplied by booksellers Muir Dawson and Jake Zeitlin and also by Joe Landacre, who found the initials “J.L.” he had center punched on the press during the brief interval between the artist’s death and the moment it was stolen.
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