Ramage Presses Still in Existence

1. The Graphic Arts Collection of the National Museum of American History is in possession of numerous presses including two (possibly three) Ramage presses:
   • The first is a free-standing screw press, circa 1820, which, according to the Collection's pamphlet (see Bibliography), was used for printing Confederate money in Columbia, South Carolina, during the civil War. It was a two-pull press, with an iron bed and platen.
   • A table-top wooden press from around 1840. This is a "foolscap" press, which was smaller than the free-standing presses, and was sold in good numbers for its portability. This one even has the original brass label: "A. RAMAGE / PATENT / NO 189."
   • They also have a common press from about 1815, which is probably a Ramage. This one has its original cheeks, spindles, plank and bar, but is missing all other original parts. These surviving parts are typical of Ramage Presses from around 1815. Apparently its previous owner, John Lant, wrongly believed it to be the press used by William Bradford in New York in 1690.
   • For more information about these presses, get a hold of the pamphlet from Elizabeth Harris at the Museum, or download her pamphlet from the web (see Links).
2. Ms. Harris' article in Printing History makes note of a few other Ramage presses, including one at the Dallas Printing Museum, which bears the number 733, which, according to Harris, was "late in the common-press sequence. But instead of a conventional hose it has the iron guide rods and coil springs of the screw presses."
3. Harris also mentions that "In 1814 Ramage sold to Matthew Carey his press number 371. A Ramage press with the number 371 stamped on its iron hose is now the property of Mr. Chris King, and is at the old Snow Hill Nunnery in Pennsylvania" (14).
4. There is also one at the Seattle Museum of Science and Industry, which "has a simplified frame essentially like the larger screw press, but a set of leaf springs over the head instead of coil springs raises the platen" (Harris 15).
5. One of Ramage's Philadelphia presses is at the The Cloisters in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. "Its legs, cross bar, winter and frame are all built of wrought iron bands 5/8" X 3 inches in section. Only the bed and platen are of cast iron. The toggle levers are a modified, long-necked version of Washington press levers" (Harris 15)
6. Two presses that could be Ramages are located at Selburne Museum, in Vermont, and in the office of the Hunterdon County Democrat in Flemington, NJ. Both have "modified Washington levers similar to those of Ramages's later Philadelphia" (Harris 16).
7. According to Moran, there is a foot-high all-iron frame table press at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland. It has a platen of 18 X 13 inches, and "was designed to be a small hand card press." It was apparently used by American missionaries in Honolulu, and from "1839 in the Oregon country by the Revd. H. H. Spalding at the Lapwai Mission (now Idaho) for educational work with the Indians. A primer and translation of the Gospel of Matthew, both in Nez Pearce, were among the items published from the press" (47).
8. Professor James Sackett, an emeritus professor at UCLA, inherited a Ramage press from his father. According to Professor Sackett, the press was built around 1827, without a tympan or frisket, wooden with a cast iron platen. Bonstrup apparently later refurbished the press and added his own brass plate to it.
9. Apparently there is at least one Ramage full-size common press at the Ford Museum, but I have not located details about it yet.
   
10. Jay Toser and his wife Christa have refurbished a Ramage press for Heritage Park, the pioneer museum in Portage County, Wisconsin. The Tosers believe their press was used for Wisconsin's first newspaper, The Green Bay Intelligencer, in 1833, as well as for a number of other important documents and papers in Wisconsin's history. The press is most closely associated with Albert Ellis, who was the second mayor of Stevens Point. The press bears the serial number 786, and was very possibly the first press used in Wisconsin. There's an article about the press in the Stevens Point Journal from August 29, 1990, and the Tosers put together a video for a local cable access channel of them putting the press together.
11. By the way, there's a man in Utah named Steve Pratt who builds reproduction Ramage Presses and repairs them as well. If you have a press that needs repair, or are interested in having one of your very own, his address is: Cove Fort; Beaver, Utah; 84713. (Thanks, Michael Barnes for the tip on this one.) If you do contact him, please let him know that you got his address from this page. Thanks.
12. Other presses will be added to this list as they come in.

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