Thank You, Benjamin Franklin!

As a letterpress printer, I’m one of the many admirers of Benjamin Franklin, born 305 years ago (1706) this coming Monday the 17th. This talented gentleman became renowned not only as a printer and writer, but as a statesman, scientist, philosopher, and American patriot. Certainly life today would have been different if Franklin had never lived: he invented the odometer, lightning rod, Franklin stove, glass harmonica, swim fins, and bifocal lenses, and came up with the ideas for daylight savings time, fire departments, public hospitals, street cleaning, political cartoons, and public libraries. He secured the crucial allegiance of France during the American Revolutionary War, without which the United States might well not have won its independence.

But it’s for his printing and writing that I appreciate Ben Franklin the most. First, he was involved with printing for much of his life. He began as an apprentice, continued as a journeyman, and carried on an active printing business in Philadelphia. Through shrewd management, one shop grew into a network of print shops by his retirement. Despite his many accomplishments, Franklin considered himself a printer first, composing his famous epitaph starting, “The body of B. Franklin, Printer; (Like the cover of an old book, Its contents worn out, and stripped of its lettering and gilding) Lies here...”

Ben Franklin was a wonderful writer, especially with short, pithy sayings that are perfect for printing. These gems from Poor Richard’s Almanac are pretty much timeless: “Love your enemies, for they will tell you your faults.” “He’s a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom.” “Necessity never made a good bargain.” “Where there’s marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.” “When the well’s dry we know the worth of water.” and “God helps them that help themselves.” One of my favorites, which I believe and live by, is “Fish and company stink in three days.” It’s really true. My husband and I try never to stay at anyone’s house for more than three days at a time.

Finally, I admire the fact that Franklin was an independent, self-made man. He wasn’t born to wealth or privilege, but rose through ingenuity and hard work. His path to success wasn’t easy, but he had the grit and determination to make his own luck.

In 2006 my husband Bob and I had the rare opportunity to see Benjamin Franklin’s press firsthand, as part of an exhibit on “Benjamin Franklin, In Search of a Better World, 300 Years” hosted by the Missouri Historical Society where Bob works. And my husband got to demonstrate printing at the museum to groups of schoolchildren. The kids printed commemorative Franklin bookmarks on our Baltimorean tabletop press, which was a thrilling experience for them.






We’ve enjoyed printing pieces about Benjamin Franklin over the years, and we look forward to doing many more. And as a printer I’ve taken one of Ben’s sayings to heart: “Doest thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that is the stuff of which life is made.”

Salute to the Mailer!

As members of the Amalgamated Printers Association, one of the things my husband and I look forward to most is the bundle. This collection of letterpress pieces by members is mailed out to everyone in the organization monthly. To me, getting the bundle is better than opening a box of chocolates! You get to see what everybody’s been printing. You could say the bundle is the lifeblood of APA — it’s what keeping everything circulating from one printer to another.

Instrumental in getting the bundle out is the mailer. Whoever has the job receives all the printed pieces from members, then sorts and distributes them through the monthly mailings. It’s a big job! I know because I’ve worked with it twice. My father Gary Hantke was mailer a couple of times (for part of 1960, and again in 1973 and 1974). And my husband Bob and I were mailers in 2001 and 2002.

My sister and I learned the meaning of the word “collate” early, when Dad was mailer.Printed pieces were lined up on the kitchen table. Round and round we’d go, picking up one of each and adding it to the bundle envelope. Sometimes my sister and I would race, but Dad discouraged that because of the dreaded “double pick”— if you got careless and picked up more than one, that item could run out before you finished all the bundles. Then you had to search to see where you’d made the mistake. Helping Dad with the bundle was fun for me, though. I liked looking at all the printed pieces. Sometimes there were extra copies, and I got to have my own little bundle made up of the leftovers.

With positive childhood experiences compiling the bundle, no wonder I was agreeable when my husband and I were asked about taking on the mailer’s job. We tried to plan ahead as much as possible. We bought a big covered plastic bin to shelter incoming packages from the weather. We set up a hanging file folder system to gather pieces two or three times during the month before stuffing bundle envelopes. We thought we were set to go. But our tenure as APA mailers started out with a challenge and a half.

The January 2001 bundle, our first as mailers, was HUGE! The combination of holiday pieces intended for the December bundle and a Benjamin Franklin theme (in honor of Ben’s January 17th birthday) swelled the bundle to immense proportions. We gathered pieces, and gathered and gathered some more. The question was how to fit it everything into the specially printed envelope with Ben on the front. Finally with careful layering, we got it all in. There wasn’t room for a scrap more! I’m sure very few people put their bundle pieces back into that January 2001 envelope after looking at them — once removed they sprang out and refused to go back in. It was quite the introduction to being mailers. Thankfully, no other bundle while we were mailers was as big as that first one!

According to APA’s website, over the club’s history 860+ people have been members, but only 23 people have been mailers. And without the mailer, APA wouldn’t be where it is today. So here’s a big salute to our 2009-2010 mailer Don Tucker, all of our former mailers, and to incoming mailers Ky and Sara Wrzesinski for taking on the job. You’ve truly made a difference — thank you!