New Mexico Letterpress

We finally made it to the letterpress shop that was recommended to us by Jim Sherraden during our visit to Hatch Show Print in Nashville. We'd scouted it out and discovered that it's part of the museum at the Palace of the Governors, but hadn't made it there yet to check it out.

After easy start to Sunday morning (after a call from Paul + Tess telling us they'll be in in town next week), we headed over to the Palace Print Shop to see what it was all about. Tom, who it was recommeded we meet, wasn't there today. But James gave us a tour of the shop and the equipment, showed us work (completed and in progress) that they were working on, and just talked with us (including sharing small world/town stories). They have an extensive collection of presses representing the history of printing in New Mexico, and apparently, of the printed material; but they also function as a working press, creating books, artwork, and even posters for Palace events.

To top it all off, the current exhibition at the Palace is Lasting Impressions: The Private Presses of New Mexico, all about the small presses (starting from the early days of colonization) that have produced books and artwork in New Mexico. All the work and the displays of equipment turned out to be a bit overwhelming; but that's OK, it's on display for another year-and-a-half.