Hughes and Kimber Catalogue

Have you contacted St Bride’s?

Hi, I thought Hughes and Kimber made etching presses. Latterly (post WW2) they were known just as Kimber. I have just removed one of their etching presses for a client. I haven’t seen one of their Albions. Presuming it is so late it may be the Improved Albion. They replaced the handle with ball and socket joints (to eliminate wear). And the rounce was metal as opposed to wood. Any pics of the press?

I would love to know more of H&K if you get any company history, because they took over my family’s firm (T.J.Lawrence) in 1886 after my great great grandfather went bankrupt. They traded as T.I.Lawrence after that. I have a lithographic handpress with their name on it, and am hoping to piece together more of their history and include it in a history of the Lawrences. May I ask for any H&K (or even Lawrence) details you get? I’d be most grateful. Cheers, Simon Lawrence ([email protected])

In 1966, I bought an 18 x 36” table top Kimber etching press that was cast from the original Kimber molds. I paid $500 for the press, and it was shipped from England. I cannot now recall how I found out that Kimber presses were newly available, but I am guessing that it was from an ad in some printmaking publication of that time. It is a great double-geared press, painted bright green, and has served me well all these years. I was told that it was “the press of Whistler”.
I have found no one else who has one of these re-cast presses, and wonder if I am the only one who answered the ad?

To add to what I said above, my son reminded me that there is a metal tag on the top bar of my Kimber press that says the following:
“Supplied by Hunter-Penrose-Littlejohn Ltd.
109, Farringdon Road,
London,E.C. 1.
Terminus 1661/7 “