Private press printing

he fundamental principle of private press printing [is] the principle that, whether or not the press has to pay its way, the printer is more interested in making a good book than a fat profit. He prints what he likes, how he likes, not what someone else has paid him to print. If now and then he produces something more apt for looking at or handling than for the mundane purpose of reading, remember he is concerned as much with his own pleasure and education as with yours. John Carter (1905-1975)

Private press printing continues and develops the traditional printing skills: the use of handset metal type, hand-made papers and old presses. Such publications are usually produced in very limited editions. Unregulated Printing presents a selection of books published over the last sixty years, and shows the work of just a few of the hundreds of private presses represented in the Library’s collections.