The next Los Angeles Printers Fair will be held Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 9 am to 5pm. The fair supports the non-profit International Printing Museum and its educational mission.

The fair is suitable for all ages. General admission is $5; $4 for students. Students, Educators, families, enthusiasts, collectors, typophiles, bibliophiles, graphic designers, artists and professionals will enjoy the varied demonstrations and array of vendors. Children are welcome but need to be accompanied by an adult at all times. Even if you’ve been to the Museum before, you’ll see new vendors and materials at the Fair.

ACTIVITIES RUNNING THROUGHOUT THE DAY INCLUDE:

• Letterpress “Swap Meet:” Don’t miss your chance to buy antique letterpress equipment and everything you need for your own print shop. Type-lovers, graphic designers, artists, printers and members of the public are welcome to ogle over hundreds of cases of type and thousands of pounds of equipment and presses.

• “The First Information Revolution: The Printed Book from Gutenberg to Franklin” To honor this year’s theme, “A Celebration of Paper and Print” we will have a guest collection of rare books. Don’t miss this one-day only exhibition in the Museum’s Gallery! Works include a Book of Hours [1471], Augustine: Civitate Dei [1489], Natali: Catalogus Sanctorum [1514], Angelus de Clavasio: Summa angelica [1519], Chaucer: Canterbury Tales [1561] and much more.

• Ask machinery expert Bill Berkuta and others all your press and equipment questions. Bill is in-demand all over the state, so take advantage of his live consultation at the Fair.

• General Gallery Tours – experience 500 years of printing history as our knowledgeable docents guide you through our collection. Letterpress demonstrations on various presses will be on-going throughout the day.

• Printmaking demonstrations in our back building on-going throughout the day in the back Book Arts Institute.

• “The 40’s Shop” – Travel back in time to experience a 40’s era working print shop. See Windmills, Ludlows, Linotypes, platen presses, proofing presses, a Miehle Vertical and our vast collection of wood and lead type. See slugs cast on our working Linotype operated by Luis Garcia.

• Sit down and enjoy reading in our Library with holdings on printing, papermaking, printmaking, typography and so much more.

• Purchase beautiful letterpress-printed pieces, artist books, gorgeous handmade and commercial paper/envelopes and more from one of our Vendors at the Fair.

• Drinks will be available for purchase.

VENDOR REGISTRATION IS STILL AVAILABLE HERE.

VOLUNTEERS: We need scores of Volunteers for the Fair before, during and afterwards. Volunteers will receive free admission. A Fair Volunteer meeting will be held Saturday, August 7th from 10-11:30am in the Museum’s Heritage Theater. Please RSVP for the meeting to fair@printmuseum.org.

FACEBOOK: The Fair is on Facebook; RSVP on the page today!

LAST YEAR’S FAIR: Check out the AIGA flickr photos from last year’s fair. 2009 Fair at www.laprintersfair.com.

For more information or comments regarding the 2010 Fair, contact the Fair Director Rachelle Chuang at fair@printmuseum.org.

(Printed on Envelopments Geisha-STA00 cardstock)

Thanks to the generous donation of beautiful paper by Envelopments, I started to print “flags” for the Fair using hand-set wood and lead type from the Museum. I printed the flags by hand on my Vandercook-4 at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. Here they are drying en masse.

By the way you can rent time at the Irvine Fine Arts Center for your own letterpress projects. Click here for details on renting press time as well as letterpress classes at the center. I believe the IFAC is the only publicly accessible place to take letterpress classes in Orange County at this time (correct me if I’m wrong!). Madeleine Zygarewicz, one of the instructors, will be at the Fair to answer any questions.

-Rachelle W. Chuang