This
photo was sent to me by my old friend Jim in California. His neighbor
Mary had visited Roumania and found this press operating in a church.
(Jim found the photo while repairing her computer, knew that I would be interested, and sent it on to me.) This press is on (working ?) display at the Saint Nicholas Church (Romanian: Biserica Sfântul Nicolae) in Braşov, Romania. Brasov was home to the first printing press in Transylvania - dating to 1558 - less than 100 years after Gutenberg began casting his moveable type. Brasov is at the intersection of trade routes linking the Ottoman Empire and Western Europe and has a very colorful history. Imagine what things this press may have printed - and where they went to over the years.... From the photo, we can see two very interesting things - the press itself, set up in what appears to be a circa 1600-1800 printing office, and the small, apparently working model of a similar press sitting on the window sill in the background. We hope to add more details to this report as soon as we learn more, but for now, enjoy the photos....   This smaller press, seen in the background of the photo above, appears to be a working model of the larger style press. details to follow as we learn more about this photo - where it was taken, when, and how the photographer came upon the press ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
