A PRESS FROM PAIHIA IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM?

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 7, Issue 1, 1 May 1974, Page 28

A PRESS FROM PAIHIA IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM?

M. K. Fitzgerald

The National Museum was recently presented with an example of one of the most remarkable types of hand printing presses, a Columbian, made in 1841 by Clymer & Dixon, London, and bearing the makers’ number 973. The date of manufacture would, whatever the history of this press, make it interesting as one of the oldest in New Zealand, but there is evidence to suggest that it was sent out initially by the Church Missionary Society to its printing house at Paihia and was later used for some years at St. John’s College, Tamaki, and St. Stephen’s, Parnell. Columbian presses in general are surely some of the most bizarre machines ever produced. They were introduced in 1813 by their inventor, George Clymer (1754-1834) of Philadelphia, who exploited the decorative possibilities of cast iron to adorn his machine with a fantastic variety of ornate decoration, the crowning glory of which was a counterweight cast in the aggressively patriotic form of an American eagle. The object of the rather startling ornamentation was simply to ensure that the press, once seen was never forgotten by a potential buyer, and in fact, they became widely known as ‘Eagles’. 1

Apart from their remarkable appearance, ‘Columbians’ are significant in the development of hand printing presses as a link between the Stanhope, the first successful all-iron screw press, and later machines of the Albion type which received their power from the straightening of a knuckle, chill or toggle joint. The Columbian was not the first press to dispense with the screw, but it did represent the most successful use of compound levers to give more power to an impression. The compound lever action perfected by Clymer gave his press a great advantage over screw presses in power, durability and evenness of impression. Clymer spent some years developing his system, and when manufacture of Columbian presses commenced in 1814, the improvements were greeted with enthusiasm by the trade in New York and Philadelphia. Although a number were sold, mostly in these two cities, the new press did not enjoy commercial success in America as a whole. They sold at S4OO to SSOO, a prohibitive price when the much more portable wooden Ramage press cost about $l3O. ‘Columbians’ were simply far too heavy to be transported long distances overland, despite the wide recognition given to their efficiency.

However, Clymer had sufficient confidence in his invention to migrate to England in 1817, at the age of sixty-three. He arrived armed with testimonials from eighteen New York and Philadelphia printers, and in the knowledge that iron presses in the form of the Stanhope, were already in fairly wide use. Once in London, Clymer lost no time in publicising his invention throughout Europe, and in setting up a factory. In his

publicity, he stressed the advantages of the Columbian over the Stanhope. While the Stanhope was cheaper and rather faster in operation than the Columbian, the frames of early models were prone to break at the point of maximum strain, while it was soon proved that the Columbian could withstand the greatest strain that a pressman could exert. For these reasons, the majority of printers in Britain and Europe considered the Columbian to be the superior machine. In regular use, a Columbian was probably no slower to operate than a Stanhope, being capable of about 250 impressions per hour, more or less the standard for hand presses at that time. These two makes were the most widely used presses in Britain till about 1835, when an improved model of the Albion press, invented by Richard Cope in 1820, appeared on the market. For many years after the mid-1830s, ‘Albions’ and ‘Columbians’ enjoyed equal popularity among British printers, the Albion being cheaper, lighter in weight and with a simpler mechanism, but the Columbian being considered by many to require less exertion in operation. 2

It is only to be expected that examples of these three presses figure prominently in the early history of printing in New Zealand. While the make of the first press in New Zealand, that used by the Rev. W. Yate for his amateurish experiments in 1830 is not known, it is well known that the press brought out by William Colenso to Paihia in 1834 was a Stanhope. This machine had been purchased by the Church Missionary Society, and is reported as of ‘Super Royal’ size. 3 There is unfortunately no evidence to suggest that this press was not broken for scrap. 4 However, on 23 February 1841, the missionaries of the northern district, meeting at Waimate, resolved to request the Central Committee of the C.M.S. to send out an additional press. The Committee obliged, and a new press arrived at Paihia in July 1842, 5 and this press, it is suggested, has survived and is now in the National Museum.

The Museum’s press was donated by the proprietors of The Chronicle, Levin. It had been used by this newspaper since 1946 as a proof press, and since 1892 it had been at Otaki, where it was used successively by the Horowhenua Times, the Otaki Times, and the Otaki Mail. 6 On the reverse of the main cross-beam of the press were painted the letters R.C.H., the initials of Richard Coupland Harding, the well-known printer who was a friend of Colenso in his later years. In November, 1908, Harding wrote to a Mr W. McLean, of Hastings, who was starting a small magazine and wanted to obtain a demy Albion press. Harding offered to lease to McLean a ‘double demy Columbian ’ made in 1841, which he said ‘formerly belonged to the Church Mission’. This press was owned by Harding but leased to the Otaki newspaper, where it was used for proofs and posters, but the printer did not have enough room for it, and would return it to Harding whenever he wished. Harding intended that his press should ultimately go to the Colonial Museum. He believed,

erroneously, that Colenso had used a Columbian from 1834 to print the Maori New Testament and his other early work, and consequently both he and T. M. Hocken believed his 1841 press to be too late to be Colenso’s. 7 However, the fact remains that in July 1842, the Paihia printing house received a new press, described in the inventory drawn up when Colenso handed over control of the press to John Telford, as a ‘Columbia’, of ‘double Crown broadside’ size. B In 1891, Colenso recalled having ordered and received a Columbian, and having used both it and his original Stanhope, but his use of the new press was restricted by a lack of skilled assistance. The Columbian had arrived at about the same time as did Bishop Selwyn who brought out a ‘little press of his own’. Colenso wrote that this press was of ‘scarcely folio press size’, and did not think that there was ever much printed on it. 9 This little press was kept separate from those belonging to the C.M.S. and it has been suggested that in 1845 it was sent to the Rev. Puckey at Kaitaia and to have been burnt in a fire there. 10

Colenso severed his connection with the Paihia printing house on 1 January 1843, and Telford who had arrived towards the end of 1842 remained in charge until August 1847, when the C.M.S. relinquished control of the press to the Bishop of New Zealand. In 1845, the printing equipment had been moved from Paihia to ‘Bishop’s Auckland’, and both presses were brought down. 11 The old Stanhope was merely stored, as it had been since 1843 and by 1847 had been disposed of, but the Columbian was used at St John’s College, Tamaki, until 1856, and at St Stephen’s, Parnell, until its sale at auction in 1875. 12 Williams believed that the sale marked the end of the history of the old mission Columbian , 13 Fifteen years later, however, we have our first surviving record of Harding’s possession of ‘a Columbian dated 1841, formerly belonging to the Church Mission’ 14

This is the press which was sent on loan to Otaki. Just where and when Harding acquired the press remains a mystery, as does his reason for believing it to be a mission press. Harding’s correspondence with Colenso was voluminous, and it is strange that no reference to the history of the Columbian could be located. One assumes, though, that they must have talked about it at some time. No specific reference to the purchase of Columbian No 973 by the Church Missionary Society or of its shipment to Paihia could be found among material available in New Zealand, and the records of Clymer and Dixon in London appear to have been destroyed. 15 Some doubt as to whether the press acquired by Harding is in fact the old mission press may be raised over the discrepancies in the description given by early printers of the platen size of the Columbian at Paihia and Auckland. Telford’s inventory refers to a ‘Double Crown Broadside’, E. J. von Dadelszen, who worked at St Stephen’s in 1863,

mentions a ‘Demy Columbian V 6 and Harding describes his press as a ‘Double Demy’. The platen of the press actually measures 27f" x 21", which is virtually old ‘Super Royal’ size (28" x 21"). However, James Moran has suggested that the vagueness with which most 19th Century printers described the sizes of their presses may well mean that all the measurements refer to the same platen. 17 Apart from this, there seems no reason to suggest why the press which was used, albeit very briefly, by Colenso at Paihia, and subsequently by Telford to print, among other items, the first edition of Williams’ Dictionary of the Maori Language 18 should not have survived, and have found a home in the National Museum.

References 1 J. Moran, ‘The Early Columbian Press in America’, The Printing Art, Vol 1, No 1, Spring 1973, pp 16-28. J. Moran, ‘The Columbian Press’, Journal of the Printing Historical Society, Vol 5, April 1969, pp 1-23. J. Kainen, George Clymer and the Columbian Press, New York, 1950. V. C. N. Blight, The Columbian Press, Sydney, 1962. T. C. Hansard, Typographia, London, 1825, pp 655-57. J. Johnson, Typographia, London, 1824, ii, pp 546-53. W. Savage, Dictionary of the Art of Printing, London, 1841, pp 171-173 2 C. Singer, et al, (ed.) A History of Technology, Vol 4, Oxford, 1958, pp 690694. J. Kainen, George Clymer and the Columbian Press, New York, 1950, pp 28-32 3 John Telford, An Inventory of Printing and Binding Apparatus and Materials, ... the property of the C.M.S., this day transferred to the charge of Mr John Telford, by Wm Colenso, 2 Jan 1843, Turnbull Library qMS 1840-52, Letters and Diaries, John Telford 4 R. C. Harding to T. M. Hocken, Aug 15, 1900. Hocken Library, Dunedin, M, 1 451/B 5 ATL, Micro MS Cn/Ml3, Reel 34, f4O, W. Colenso to W. R. Davis, Paihia, Feb 24, 1841; (ATL qMS 1834-53, W. Colenso to Secretary, C.M.S. 26 July 1842) 6 Personal communication, T. Kerslake, Levin, 6 June 1973 7 ATL, MS 091, 1901-10, R. C. Harding to W. McLean 1 Dec 1908. Hocken Library, Dunedin, M, 1, 451/B. R. C. Harding to T. M. Hocken, 15 August 1900. T. M. Hocken, ‘On the Beginnings of Literature in New Zealand’, Pt 1, Trans. N.Z. Institute, v 33, (1900) p 490. R. C. Harding ‘Relics of the First New Zealand Press’, Trans. N.Z. Institute, v 32, (1899) p 404 8 ATL, qMS 1840-52, Letters and Diaries, John Telford, An Inventory . . . 2 Jan 1843 9 ATL, Micro MS 3, W. Colenso, Letters to R. C. Harding. 1891-98, Colenso to Harding 5 Jan 1891; (qMS 1834-53, W. Colenso, Letters, Colenso to Secretaries, C.M.S. 26 July 1842, para 6) 10 H. W. Williams, A Bibliography of Printed Maori to 1900, Dominion Museum Monograph No 7, Wellington 1924, p ix, x 11 ATL qMS 1840-52, Letters and Diaries, John Telford, Inventories 2 Jan 1843, 2 August 1847; Turnbull Library qMS, W. C. Cotton, Journal, v, ix, p 114, 17 Nov 1846; p 157, 22 July 1845 12 ATL qMS W. C. Cotton to R. Burrows, 5 Nov 1844; H. W. Williams, op cit p ix 13 H. W. Williams, op cit p ix 14 Typo, 10, 29 Mar 1890

15 Personal communication, James Moran, London, 21 Aug 1973 16 H. W. Williams, op cit p ix 17 Personal communication, James Moran, London, 21 Aug 1973 18 W. Williams. A Dictionary of the New Zealand Language, Paihia, 1844