Museum of Printing History

If you’re ever down in the way of Houston, and you have a fascination (or even a mere appreciation) for typography and “old-school” printing, I highly recommend stopping by the Museum of Printing History.

I visited the museum a few years ago and gained a whole new perspective and respect for the printing process and how far we’ve come today. Visiting the museum again is one of those things that I’ve put on my list for things to do this year.

And speaking of printing history, for the last two years running there is a booth at the Texas Renaissance Festival called “The Gutenberg Press” which also features (you guessed it) a working Gutenberg press. While I have my doubts to its authenticity, it’s still fascinating to see something like that in action. If you make it a habit to attend the festival, I recommend finding the booth and casing the joint*. (The booth is usually to the “left” of the jousting arena.)

* Yes I know this terminology is usually reserved for 1920’s gangster-speak, but sometimes I give in to the desires to make a play on words even if no else will get it. To “case” the joint… you know, cases in old type shops where capital letters an non-capital letters were stored, hence the name “upper-case” and “lower-case” letters? Okay ahh… nevermind then.