The series of photographs above are of Reynolds Stone's old ironhand presses. Stone (1909 - 1979) was a very distinguished British wood engraver, letter cutter and painter who lived in rural Dorset, England. His wife, Janet was a skilled photographer and took these two and a quarter square format photos of him and his presses in the mid-1960s. The negatives were found recently by his son-in-law (and accomplished artist himself), Ian Beck, who scanned and posted them here. Featured are his Columbian and Albion presses which were eventually sold to a Japanese collector after his death and are now on display in a Tokyo print museum.
Stone had no formal design training, but drew inspiration from his friendships with Stanley Morison and Eric Gill who he had a chance meeting with on a train one day. He is remembered as a prolific designer of typefaces, book jackets, postage stamps, British bank notes, memorials in slate and stone and even the official coat of arms seen on the cover of the British passport. One of my favorite works of his is seen here in a previous Letterology post. You can see more photos on Stone's work for the Winston Churchill memorial here. Thanks for sharing Ian!
