By Margie Dana

In the glorious heat of the summer, we should slow down long enough to give a shout out to our past – past communicating methods, that is.

Last week I came across a couple of news items about earlier days of printing and publishing that tickled my fancy. I couldn’t make this stuff up – and think they’re too good not to share.

Letterpress from your iPad? Believe it.

File this under super-cool. For just $5.99, you can purchase a new app for your iPad that will let you create a virtual letterpress environment. LetterMPress™ is the brainchild of John Bonadies, a graphic designer in Champaign, IL, and programmer Jeff Adams. There are big plans afoot for this project, including a real letterpress shop called “Living Letter Press,” which will let LetterMPress users download their creations for actual letterpress-ing.

I’ve bought this app and can’t wait to get my hands dirty (as it were). It might well be the closest I get to actually practicing this ancient printing craft. BTW, there’s a Facebook page you can join: The Living Letter Press.

In my book, there’s no printing process as beautiful as letterpress.

Check out the video and Bonadies’ explanation of the project at http://www.dexigner.com/news/23362. Neenah Paper is a sponsor of this app.

Oh, for an Olivetti or Smith Corona

If you have no clue what this subhead refers to, you are officially Young. I, on the other hand, pine for the clickety-clack of one of these classic manual typewriters. Why did I get rid of mine, all those years ago?

So it was with delight that I read about a company in Brooklyn, NY, called Brady & Kowalski. This 16-month-old company sells refurbished, classic typewriters (“writing machines”) at the Brooklyn Flea (www.brooklynflea.com).

Take a look at their sweet web site: www.brady-kowalski.com. They actually held a “Ribbon-Changing Seminar” recently, where, for $25, you could learn how to change a ribbon on your manual typewriter. I kid you not. There was another event called “Brooklyn type out #1,” encouraging folks to “…join fellow typewriter lovers for an afternoon of typewriting en plein air. A speed typewriting competition will take place at high-noon, come early to cop a spot and register.” Love it!

They also have a Facebook page you can like: BRADY; KOWALSKI – Writing Machines, Est. 1873. (I have written them to find out the significance of 1873. I assume it’s a nod to the year in which a Remington typewriter was first mass produced.)

Oh, their tagline is “unplug and reconnect.” Advice we should all heed, especially in these dog days of summer. Anyone want to go to Brooklyn soon?

The Kids Get Mail

In the same issue of New York magazine, there’s a piece about Brooklyn blogger Melissa Lohman Wild. Evidently, Ms. Wild has been blogging for two years about the magnificence and wonder of snail mail. Check it out at www.vivasnailmail.com. She’s holding an event next month for children, called, “Make Mail!!” Kids are asked to bring a mailing address of someone; that’s it. Ms. Wild provides all necessary materials; i.e., paper and stamps. I hope it’s a stark-raving success.

©2011 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. Your comments are encouraged. You’re free to forward this email to friends and colleagues. However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author. Comments?