Ok, so this is just awesome. Coolhunting visited Grafica Fidalga in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to do a poster run and meet the printers:

Please note how they create new type by laminating a cut plywood letterform to a second block to make it type-high. It’s particularly nice to see a production shop work through a print run; adding make-ready to a form, finding creative solutions to missing type (check out that % symbol) and fixing work-ups mid run with a hammer! A cursory google search seems to only identify their press as a 1929 German Letterpress – so extra credit to whomever can find the model and make. I can verify that it is a flatbed-cylinder press, akin to Babcock’s and Miehle’s early designs.

And while we’re on the subject of letterpress, wood type, and awesomeness, there is a new Wood Type Museum online, including photos and specimen-books, with a nice write-up by the folks at Hoefler & Frere-Jones.