The print and design foundation will host a substantial collection of Adana promotional material and presses, assembled by Bob Richardson, the foundation’s library, learning and interpretation officer.

The exhibition will include catalogues, posters, instruction manuals and photographs, and presses from the 1920s onwards, including the Adana 1A, the ‘45 shilling machine’, the High Speed #1, and the post-WW2 Showcard poster press. 

The presses were designed as economical, single-operator letterpress machines, and at times saw considerable success both for hobbyists and commercially.

Sophie Hawkey-Edwards, librarian at the St Bride Foundation, said all were welcome to attend the private view on 9 February or attend an open talk tomorrow (31 January), at both of which Richardson will speak about the material and presses he has collected for the exhibition, as well as Adana’s enigmatic founder, Donald Aspinall.

Richardson told Printweek that Aspinall’s story was well worth hearing: “The business was set up by a man who had no knowledge whatsoever of printing or the technology behind it.

“An unemployed soldier after the First World War, he took a punt really and designed a very basic printing press, sold a huge number of them without having made any, and then panicked - and had to create a printing press from scratch.

“The company went bust at the end of the 1930s, and had collapsed at the outbreak of war. It was effectively reborn in 1945, by a creditor who bought the assets: they had tremendous success after the Second World War, but then sold on to Caslon [Adana’s current owners].”

Reborn under Caslon, Adana still produces letterpress machines today.

Tickets for tomorrow's talk can be bought here; RSVP for the private view by emailing library@sbf.org.uk by 27 January.

The exhibition will run daily from 10am to 5pm, though the foundation has urged those wanting to visit to get in touch beforehand to make sure the exhibition space will be open.