An Englishman completely new to the printing world undertook a complex operation to save the machines of the Antica Tipografia Biagini in Lucca, Italy - all while getting married in America.

Benham Gooder, who was responsible for the rescue, told Printweek that he couldn’t bear to see the historic machines go to the scrapyard.

He said: “It just seemed completely wrong that they should be scrapped. They’re all fully functioning, and gorgeous things.”

Gooder, who only knew the printworks as a customer, heard in April that the company had been forced to close its doors, and that in just 10 days’ time, all seven of its machines would be scrapped.

These included two original Heidelberg presses, a Nebiolo machine, and a Polar Mohr cutting machine. 

Gooder said: “Not only was I doing this with 10 days’ notice but also I had disappeared to America, to go get married.

“We had to do it remotely - in effect, the whole operation took place without me being there.”

The rescue operation meant closing off one of the medieval city’s narrow, winding streets, hiring a crane and operators, and finding somewhere to store all the machinery.

He added: “Lucca is a maze, and Via Santa Giustina, where the tipografia was, is in a very narrow side street.”

While his being in America made the rescue more complicated, it may have provided Gooder with the inspiration for how he can get the machines back into operation.

There, he visited Bowne & Co. in New York, which operates as a type of living museum, to try and learn a little more about the machines he had just saved, and found a potential model for keeping the presses running.

He said: “Ideally, what I’d like to do is to find a home for [the machines], where rather like Bowne & Co. they can be kept operable as sort of an educational place for design students, or graphic and print students from art schools, or schools all over the world, coming to Italy.”

He added that Lucca, which used to be one of Europe’s papermaking centres, made an ideal spot for an historical printworks like Biagini.

One of the Heidelberg presses

Renato Valesi, who had run the old Tipografia Biagini, told Printweek that the printworks, famous for its ‘Ex Libris’ designs, had simply had to fold after a run of Covid-related misfortune.

The pandemic had reduced his business to practically zero income for two years - yet that was not the worst of it.

He said: “We had a typographer, poor Antonio, who died of Covid.”

While Biagini made all efforts to replace him, the lack of business, and overwhelming competition from digital printworks, meant that after a certain point operation simply became unmanageable financially.

He said: “We have had the good fortune to meet a person of vision like Ben, and we’ll see where we can go from here.

“For our part, we’re ready to provide our expertise.”

The Tipografia Biagini printworks

Gooder, too, was keen to keep Valesi and his son Matteo involved in the business, whatever form it may take in the future.

Once he has reunited the machines with their characters - of which he has about 12 chests of drawers - Gooder said he hopes to give students and enthusiasts the chance to work with the machines.

He said: “I’d like to bring them together under one roof, where they can be protected, loved, maintained, and used by people who are interested in using them.

“Ideally, I’d like this place, wherever it’s going to be, to be known about by anybody interested in old-fashioned print design, as a sort of living museum."

He added that anyone with knowledge about vintage machines, or such projects, would be very welcome to get in touch at benhamgooder@hotmail.com.