by Lisa Robinson
The Columbian Press, pictured here, was invented around 1813 by George Clymer and patented in 1817. It was one of the first iron printing presses and had many advantages. As written in 1817: “First, the powers of said press is a combination of levers, which produce power almost ad infinitum. Secondly, it is composed entirely of cast and wrought iron … it will produce impressions far superior to that produced on the common Presses, with scarce any labor to the pressman; and a sheet of the largest size is printable at one movement.” The press was highly ornate: “It has perched on top a cast iron eagle with spreading wings; also it is decorated with artistic dragons or griffins.” But the ornamentation was not just for show, it was functional. The eagle for example, is the counterbalance weight, which can be adjusted by sliding it along the highly decorated counterbalance lever. Clymer gave the manufacturing rights to Tomas Barnet of South Carolina in 1817 and moved to London to open a manufacturing operation. The business changed hands multiple times and the Columbian press was continued to be manufactured into the twentieth century. Today, examples of the press can be found in the collections of many esteemed institutions such as the Smithsonian and the London Science Museum. The press pictured here is in the Albert Sperisen Library of the Book Club of California, in San Francisco. How it made its way there is uncertain, but where it came from is known. This particular Columbian Printing Press was used in the offices of the Mountain Echo newspaper in Boulder Creek. It was manufactured by D. & J. Grieg, Edeinburg [Edinburgh], Scotland. We know that in 1934, it was owned by Frederick W. Sears who had a commercial printing operation at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Church Street, in Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Sentinel described it as a “blue eagle machine” and notes that it was brought to Boulder Creek by Mountain Echo editor Winfield Scott Rodgers from San Francisco, where it had been used in the offices of the weekly newspaper The Enterprise. Frederick Sears passed away in 1948, and in 1950 the Book Club of California published George Clymer and the Columbian Press by Jacob Kainen. By 1967, the press was on exhibition in the Book Club’s library.