This press was invented by Josiah Wade of Halifax, and the design patented in 1872. It had a number of new features that made it easy to operate and produce superior print. Although Wade died in 1910, production of his press continued until 1959 when some 40,000 presses had been manufactured. The press was supplied in a mahogany box, with each piece numbered, so that the individual printer could erect the press himself. Wade made sure that no part was too heavy for a man to handle.
My ‘Arab’ was made in 1900 and was bought in 1992 from the Badenoch Printers in Kingussie, where it had produced printed material for the surrounding area for nearly one hundred years. The press must have been lovingly looked after (and still is!) as it is in its original livery of blue and gold, and is in immaculate condition for a printing press of this vintage. The press has also got recent prominence in that it starred in the BBC documentary ‘The Wipers Times’, written by Ian Hislop and telling the true story of how a newspaper was published during WW2 in Ypres, just behind the front line.
Periscope Press 