Material: Cast iron and steel.Finish: Black.
Origin: England.
Period: 19th century.
Description: Offered is an antique cast iron and steel screw press, finished in black, with a hand wheel on top. The plate is lowered by pressure from the hand wheel due to the threaded screw mechanism. The base has holes for attaching to a foundation.
Features: 2.75 inch daylight (being the maximum distance that the press can be opened to), square cut thread - cut at a shallow angle (allows for provision of additional tightening, to apply maximum pressure), arch detailed with scroll detail above a beveled upper plate surface and base edge. Upper plate surface marked in silver and gold gilt "HB Co", "Z", and "Cunningham, Curtis & Welch - San Francisco, Cal". Bottom surface of press marked "World's Columbian Exposition - Chicago 1893 - Cotton States Exposition - Atlanta 1895 - Premiums Awarded".
Measures: 19 L x 11 D x 12 H (Plate - 12.5 L x 10 D) inches.
Weight: 50 pounds, 5 ounces.
History and Purpose: Predominantly, these old copying press's are being sold as book press's, their original purpose forgotten. As early as the 1780s, the copying press was used as a practical method of reproducing documents by the likes of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. Today, you will find a copy press in binderies, a useful finishing tool when it comes to pressing one or two books. As shelf decor in a library, office or table decoration, a sure conversation piece.
About the manufacturer: HB Co. was located in London at 47 & 48 Old Bailey in 1861. The company's advertising claimed a foundation date of 1795. Founder William Hampson appeared in the London Post Office Directories at the above address through 1860. Later the firm relocated to 2 & 4, Fann Street in London EC1. Between 1911-1936, HB Co. joined N.J. Hill, and went out of business in the early 1960s. For the better part of a century, they were the most prominent manufacturer of presses and machines for book making in England.
Provenance: Cunningham, Curtis & Welch was a book and stationary publisher known for producing high-quality photogravures. The company was located at the corner of Sansome & Sacramento Streets in San Francisco, founded circa 1898 and closed business circa 1923.