Kelsey Excelsior 5×8 Printing Press
I bought this Kelsey Excelsior 5×8 Printing Press a few years ago, and it is setup in our “mini-museum” in our front lobby.
If I remember correctly, this press was still in use in Texas two years before I bought it, until the printer passed away. As near as I can tell, it’s in real good shape. It didn’t include rollers, but included everything else, as well as some old metal dies of letters and artwork, which I’ll present in a future post.
I believe that this particular model was made in 1928. Whether the actual unit was made in 1928, or if that was just the year the model was introduced, I’m not sure. But, it is the older Model-N.
If you’d like to learn more about the Kelsey Excelsior Printing Press, pay a visit to this page, where you’ll find a great introduction as well as some links to other sites: The Kelsey Excelsior Table Top Printing Press. If you’re interested in other older printing equipment as well, be sure to check out the whole site as well.
One day, we’ll have our own mini-museum online. I already have a timeline and a photo, but haven’t put it up yet. Real world printing projects often force other things to the backburner!
Very cool. I used to enjoy seeing these even more than the heavy presses we used in the shop… it felt nostalgic, even though I never used one myself.
That’s neat, I can’t imagine how long it took to set the type on something like that. I like the website you pointed to. Interesting how the Excelsior was advertised as “start your own business” to people. You won’t see that sort of thing today.