John M. Kelly Library Kelly Library: Landon Press Unveiled

On Wednesday, November 30, 2011 the Landon Press was unveiled on the second floor of the Kelly Library. The press is a custom hand-made fully functional printing press.  The design is loosely based on the Benjamin Franklin press. To increase the strength and scale of the press, a larger and thicker wood was used for the frame. The wood is comprised of 150 year old elm (sawed with a century old water mill), a year old maple, kilm dried oak, maple, walnut, and bloodwood.  The mechanism and hardware is comprised of machined metal and hand forged steel, and fasteners.  You print by pulling on a large handle which turns a 2.5" pitch steel screw inside a brass nut, which then lowers a wooden platen onto your type or image.

The press was built by Imre Rozsa, a 2011 graduate of St. Michael's College. He included a number of architectural and artistic elements in the press in order to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

The Landon Press is named in honour of Richard Landon, former Director of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto and an early supporter of the St. Michael's College Book and Media Studies Program. Landon died on October 5, 2011. His wife, Marie Korey, was present for the unveiling of the press.