A 19thC Alphabet Tray of Wooden Letterpress Printing Blocks c.1895

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Origin: English
Period: Mid-Victorian
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1895
Width: 38”
Height: 15”
Depth: 1.5” (the tray)
Example Letter Height: 3.75” for P

The collection of approximately one hundred and twenty three letterpress printing blocks, presented in their original wooden stained tray from the print house, the font being an elongated, sans serif type font in mahogany or similar wood and to include the ampersand and other punctuation marks, apparently hailing from Covent Garden, London and from the last decade of the nineteenth century.

The condition of the blocks varies slightly with a handful having small chips but the patina is beautiful and there isn’t any major damages or losses to speak of.

As an art, block printing has been important in many nations, beginning in Asia about 750 A.D, and in Europe about 1350. Many blocks of this kind would have been destroyed when the new techniques were introduced.

Aside from being superbly decorative, displayed on shelves or mantelpieces, these well-crafted blocks also offer a multitude of uses from letterpress printing itself to personalising anything from stationary to entire walls.

Let your imagination run wild.
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