The Printing Press

During my research, I struggled to find specific information about the exact printing press used for The North Star. However, there was an abundance of information about printing practices in America in the 19th century. In the 1800s, the technology used for printing was advancing, most notably in the change from a wooden press to a cast iron press. These changes were created for the purpose of increasing the speed of printing. One of the main things to note is the different scales of printing: there were large newspaper companies and smaller presses, such as small country newspapers and abolitionist papers. These smaller presses often used iron hand presses, which offered the benefits of being sturdier, easier to clean, and less susceptible to damage than their wooden counterparts.

To use these presses, small pieces were laid out to assemble a page that would be inked and transferred onto paper. Because of this, the printing process was extremely slow. It often took between three and four hours to assemble a page layout. Therefore, four page newspapers, such as The North Star, often took 16 hours to create. A decently-sized newspaper company looking to sell approximately 100 to 200 copies would likely have to allocate 20 to 25 hours to printing if two people were working the press.

Theoretically, anyone could own and run a press like this. Printers often learned how to work the presses as apprentices, slowly working up to the level of master printer over time. Self-taught small town printers and abolitionists, however, were often looked down upon and faced refusal from master printers to train them. If anyone happened to have the money to purchase a new press, it usually cost approximately 250 dollars, which would be equivalent to around 10,000 dollars today (Freedom Center).

Pictured below is an example of what an iron hand press from the 1850s looked like. This is likely the type of press used in the creation and publication of The North Star.