While on vacation in Sydney Aus. I helped a very good friend’s mother clean out a very cluttered house and was able to help her sell some things on eBay once I got back to the states. She was extremely grateful and I brought back quite a lot of interesting things I would not allow to see the dumpster. These two printing blocks were some of those items .

The smaller one that depicts an archaic letterpress itself is 3 1/2 inches long by 2 I. He’s wide. This one does appear to have seen ink a few times but it does bear that very familiar green patina , so I assume it is either brass or just copper like the larger one. There are no identifying words on it , and the wood block it is mounted to is plain, except for what looks like one cut nail on the back . The engraving is I redivly detailed, with a ton of intricate fine line work. It is beautiful.

But the other larger block is the crown jewel. It may have never seen use . It depicts an intricate type of engine, complete with belts, fly wheels, a skeletal metal frame and does have some writing which allowed me to further research into it . In the upper right hand quadrant in fine print , it says “James Bailey, Patentee & Maker, Slaithwaite Yorkshire.

From the best of my research , and found in large part because of the accessibility of the UK’s archive system , James Bailey was a talented engineer and entrepreneur. Born in Ireland but soon immigrated to Australia roughly late 1860s, he engineered many things in the textile industry and I believe this machine is one of them. What Ancestry .com will let me find without paying hem money, he died in 1921, was a major businessman in the textile and paper industry , had a few children, etc. if you’ve got access to ancestry.com run the name. I’d like to know.

What I do know is these blocks are beautiful, and they’re really old. So they’re up for auction, no reserve but I’m starting this higher than I normally do because these are just, so cool. Ask questions before you bid and refer to the pictures, I’m here to help too so reach out .