Gary Arber, owner of east London letterpress printer and stationery supplier WF Arber & Co had been forced to wind down the company as the result of high business rates and heavy handed parking restrictions. The business, founded in 1897, is due to close at the end of May.
82-yeal old Arber, who has run the family firm since 1954, had been looking for a home for the company’s historic presses, but after several expressions of interest, none of which came to fruition, he had resigned himself to scrapping the machines.
However, after PrintWeek published an article on Arber’s plight, Graham Pressman of Catseye Press contacted Arber and agreed to take the presses.
“I’m so pleased that you wrote about them and Graham saw the article. There’s the perfect headline for you: PrintWeek saves the Arber presses and the last Lagonda in the world. If you hadn’t have helped find a home for them I would have had to have cut them up for scrap,” said Arber.
Pressman will take the Wharfedale, a 1939 Heidelberg auto-platen, a 1947 Lagonda auto-platen, and Mercedes Crown and Supermatic cylinders from the 1950s. The other Arber press, a Golding Jobber platen, is set to go to a local historical society.
The five-week operation to strip the machines and move them to Catseye in Happisburgh began last week and is being carried out by Pressman’s civil and business partner Mark Pressman.
Once the presses are removed, they will be cleaned and reassembled with a view to joining Catseye’s battery of 12 Thompson and Heidelberg platens. Catseye specialises in producing wedding favour and cupcake boxes, producing around 1m a year.
“We very much work our machines here, we’re not a museum so the only way we can justify them is to put them to work and we can’t be a museum because of the legislation,” said Graham.
Graham said that he was particularly excited about the Lagonda, because he’s not aware of any other machines in existence.
“I don’t know of any others, I’ve had the word out on the internet and via word of mouth for around 10 years, but none have come to light in that time,” he said.
As well as Catseye Graham and Mark are involved with local pub, the Hill House Inn, Happisburgh.
“We’re not a museum, but if any PrintWeek readers want to come to Happisburgh and see the presses running they would be more than welcome to visit,” added Graham.
Click here to read our full interview with Gary Arber, where he talks about the firm's role in helping women secure the vote and wiping out TB.
