COLENSO’S PRESS
TO BE SEEN IN ACTION PRINTING EXHIBITION (By Telegraph.—special to Times) WELLINGTON, Tuesday To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the invention of printing, what is probably the oldest working press in the Dominion will be seen in action as part of an exhibition of the craft at the Wellington Public Library this week. It was originally used by the missionary printer William Colenso, who was printing Maori Bibles and school-books at Paihia at the end of 1834, and was subsequently stationed at Hawkes Bay. Painted and done up, the press is still in good condition, and will be demonstrated by members of the printing trade during the Exhibition. It is in striking contrast to the fast modem automatic presses to be seen j in Wellington printing houses today. Colenso was not the first printer in New Zealand; as early as 1830 the Rev. William Yate printed Maori hymn leaflets at Kerikeri on a small hand press. Nor is the press Colenso’s original one, but his second, j Howev-er, it is certainly the best part of a century old, and was used—probably at Ahuriri—by the man who really established the craft in this country. The exhibition at the library comprises a complete survey of the progress of printing. It has been arranged by the New Zealand Libraries Association in conjunction with the Wellington Club of Printing-House Craftsmen. The General Assembly Library has contributed to the displays, as have many of Wellington’s leading commercial printing houses.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19401126.2.10
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Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21280, 26 November 1940, Page 2
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246COLENSO’S PRESS Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21280, 26 November 1940, Page 2
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