1806 RAMAGE PRESS

The Ramage Press at the Museum dates to 1806 and is a very rare example of a wooden common press. Very few wooden presses that predate the invention of metal presses are still in existence. This specific press is the oldest press in our collection and the third oldest press in the country. The Museum acquired the press in 1997 from the owner of the map company, Rand McNally. Three years prior to this acquisition, the Museum director discovered the Ramage Press on display at a printing plant in Indianapolis that had just been absorbed by Rand McNally. After extensive negotiations, the company decided to part with the press and donate it to us.

The name “Ramage” comes from the name of the manufacturer, Adam Ramage, who immigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1795. According to records from Ramage’s time, he manufactured 1,250 wooden presses over the course of his life. He started out as a press repairman in Philadelphia and within a decade he was manufacturing presses with his own modifications. These modifications were mostly about incorporating metal elements, like an iron platen bed, into the existing design for the common press. Unlike the iron hand presses that would develop in the early 1800s, Ramage’s presses were not a huge departure from existing presses. In fact, manufacturers in Europe had already come up with the idea of adding metal elements to new wooden presses. What is noteworthy about Ramage is that he was an American manufacturer of printing presses, when Europe was still the center of production, and that his name became synonymous with the presses he was selling. Company names like Stanhope, Columbian and Albion would soon be attached to the presses they were selling but this was a new convention when Ramage did it. Wooden presses are often just called common presses because there was no distinctive company or manufacturer to attach them to.  

Adam Ramage continued to manufacture wooden presses for nearly 50 years after iron hand presses like the Stanhope came onto the market. Although iron presses took on quickly in Europe, they were not very practical for most Americans. America was still a developing country. It was too expensive and cumbersome to bring an iron press out to a print shop in a rural area. Wooden presses by contrast were cheaper and lighter weight, making Ramage’s press a viable option for small town printers.