Described in The Telegraph as Britain's last artisan printer, octogenarian Stan Lane, owner of Gloucester Typesetting Services has succeeded in his quest to keep the art of letterpress alive.

In 2019, Lane featured in national newspapers and on Radio 4 highlighting his search for a mature apprentice who could learn the art of letterpress printing and hot metal typesetting and ultimately, take over his Stonehouse-based business, so that he could retire. 

The business is one of the last remaining complete commercial monotype typesetting, typefounding and letterpress printing businesses in the UK, with printing kit including a Heidelberg cylinder and auto-feed platen, alongside Vandercook, Western and FAG Swissproof proofing presses in various formats.

Without a successor, Lane told Printweek, he feared his craft, along with all of his specialist equipment would be lost.

Following the publicity, Lane was inundated with applicants from all over the world, none of whom was the right fit. However, he struck lucky in 2021 when local publishing designer Katie Beard reached out to him.

“I’d heard about him through a local contact and was fascinated by it all, so I popped in to see him and from there asked if we could do some work together. Then I was hooked,” she said. 

Working in the magazine and book printing and publishing industry for three decades, most recently as head of design at The History Press in Cheltenham, Beard had the experience Lane was looking for. 

“Stan and I really hit it off and I started thinking what I could do with the business and because the lease was coming up it looked like everything he’d worked for might be split up and sold off, so I decided to buy the business.”

The purchase in 2022, was mostly self-funded, explained Beard, with further financial backing from Heritage Crafts, due to the nature of the business being listed as an endangered craft. Additionally the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) has funded a scholarship for Lane to provide further training.

“I’ve already got a fairly good understanding of the processes, which was why Stan was happy to take this further with me, so the training really focuses on the equipment side and the craftsmanship, things that would otherwise be extinct before too long,” explained Beard. 

When the lease expired on the Stonehouse workshop, where Stonehouse had worked for more than 40 years, the pair moved to new premises in nearby Stroud, which Beard described as a very creative town centre. 

“Moving 20 tonnes of vintage printing presses was a fun day out. It’s so old, we just hoped it would survive the journey. But this is what attracted me to it: keeping the process alive in this AI and automated world. It’s so important that we keep these artisan processes alive and there is only a handful of people who can do it.”

Working under the name of her own business, Rooksmoor, and incorporating Lane’s Gloucester Typesetting Services, the pair have so far worked on two limited edition projects from The History Press including Letters from the Titanic, which was published at the start of the year. 

And what of 84-year old Lane’s retirement plans?

“Well, he keeps talking about retirement but he will continue training me this year and to guide me. He just loves the work. 

“Considering he’s worked on his own all his life it’s amazing how patient with me he is. It's so easy working together; we have similar ideas about things. I bring in a slightly digital element here and there but the majority of it is all done exactly how it was back in the day.” 

Moving forwards, Beard said she intended to take on apprentices in the future to build skills that would keep the process alive, with the business continuing to offer fine press editions of poetry books, personal diaries, artists books and professional manuscripts.

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