American Primitive Letterpress was founded in 2010 and operates out of the basement of our 1887 farmhouse in Maryland. We design and print specialty posters and flyers, cards and invitations, chapbooks and broadsides, and myriad ephemera by traditional letterpress methods, hand-setting vintage wooden and metal type and ornaments. As we expand our arsenal of type and equipment and our range of expression, we’re printing limited-run jobs on our antique cylinder proof press and on our slightly less ancient but no less miraculous tabletop platen press. Meanwhile, we’re gradually restoring our massive, venerable Challenge Gordon 8x12 to production capabilities.

We work in an “American Primitive” vein: simple, straightforward designs suggested by the materials at hand and executed by means of the most basic technology.

Nothin’ fancy, folks.

Below, a look around the shop and some random samples.