Bowne & Co.
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South Street Seaport Museum's custom letterpress printing shops, workshops location, and art gallery
Bowne Printers is a letterpress printshop in downtown Manhattan and part of the South Street Seaport Museum. The shop's resident printers use the Seaport Museum's extensive collection of historic printing equipment, moveable type and engravings to print custom jobs and retail items that are sold in-house at Bowne & Co., Stationers. The shop invites visitors to watch and discuss letterpress printing in New York City.
Operating as usual
06/17/2022
Bowne & Co. updated their information in their About section.
Bowne & Co. updated their information in their About section.
11/24/2021
Thank you for the enthusiastic response and interest in our new personalized sets! Our first made-to-order stationery to be offered in the shop, each set of 50 letterpress-printed flat notecards with envelopes is personalized with the initials of your gift recipient (or your own!) and arrives in a pine stationery box.
A reminder: if you haven’t ordered yet, be sure to do so by next Tuesday, November 30 to ensure delivery by December 25. All orders placed before November 30 will ship by December 13.
11/23/2021
The newest item in our online shop, just in time for : foil-stamped , made in house!
In 2018 we acquired a small Kensol foil stamping press. Having new technology around the shop is always exciting, and we spent a ton of time exploring new forms that foil made available to us. One of the first projects we worked on was a wooden dreidel for the holiday season. These first dreidels were printed from scans of moveable lead type in the Museum’s collection and sold quickly in our brick-and-mortar store.
This year, we decided to print a new batch of dreidels, but wanted to use different letterforms. To our dismay, all of the Hebrew type in the collection—just a few fonts—were all the same typeface! After some research, we drew the letterforms on this dreidel based on scans of the German 15th-century Ashkenazi Haggadah from The British Library. Those designs were then made into magnesium dies for foil stamping. Stamping took place in our shop in Lower Manhattan over the last few weeks, after which we sealed all of the dreidels with paste wax.
11/10/2021
New in our online shop: stationery personalized with your initials! We pulled out some of our favorite typefaces and initials from our working collection to make sets of made-to-order notecards, and the styles range from embellished to modern so there is something for everyone.
The cards come in sets of 50 and arrive in a pine storage box, so they are an ideal holiday gift! Each order takes a few weeks to print on our 1901 Golding Jobber, so be sure to order during the month of November if you are in need of delivery by December 25.
09/18/2021
Happy Type High day!
#.918
07/24/2021
Printing live on Water Street continues today until 5pm! This week, it’s a special project created by our Printing History Interns. They designed and printed a postcard to honor the cherished small businesses in our lives, featuring a . We hope you’ll stop by and take some home to give to the local businesses that make our lives so special.
07/16/2021
On press today and tomorrow! Don’t miss your chance to grab one of our newest prints FOR FREE! We will be printing the last layer of this broadside as part of the open days today and tomorrow 11-5. After Saturday, they will go on sale on our website along with some other new goodies we’ve been working on!
06/12/2021
On press this weekend… fans, complete with ! Stop by 209 Water Street until 5pm today to see us printing on our stoop and take away a free fan! We’ll be out again next Friday and Saturday printing something totally different, so be sure to join us weekly!
06/09/2021
Preparations are underway for many future weekends on our front steps at 209 Water Street! Stop by on Fridays and Saturdays between now and October to see live printing and take home a free print. (A hint about this coming weekend: our printed item will help you celebrate !)
Free demonstrations will be conducted hourly between 11am and 4pm. We’ll also be offering same-day pick up for items purchased from our online shop. We can’t wait to see you!
06/07/2021
New in our online shop: our first letterpress-printed notepads! Tear-off sheets in sturdy grey paper are small in size — and perfect for your back pocket. The cover features a botanical linocut and silver type from our collection (, if you’re curious!). And as always, they were printed, folded, glued together, and trimmed in our printing office using our 19th-century equipment… definitely a labor of love!
05/27/2021
Check out our latest on the South Street Seaport Museum website! It was tons of fun to participate in the international project this year, so we wrote about it!
The blog is a deep dive into our process of selecting letterforms, finalizing a design, and printing two new broadsides to celebrate our vast collection of .
seaportmuseum.org/curating-type-at-bowne-co/
05/25/2021
On the Brooklyn version of our brand new Greatest Borough broadsides, one thing is not like the others! We had our hearts set on using this chunky gothic wood type from 1835, but we had a challenge: the huge negative space in the L–Y pairing was making it difficult to space the rest of the letters attractively. The only solution was to kern the characters, or move them close together.
We already had a kerned Y—a piece of type that had been cut away a long time ago from its original square block. But we didn’t have a kerned L, and we did not want to take a saw to a nearly 200-year-old piece of our collection, so we made a new one! We drew the letter on a piece of linoleum and carved the surface, then cut away the negative space from the rest of the block. The two letters nested together very nicely.
We printed broadsides to celebrate each New York City borough, so you can support your favorite. All five are available in our online shop, www.bowne.co
05/11/2021
is a wrap! It was so much fun looking through our working collection of for interesting letterforms, and we had a fantastic time posters to show them off.
Our limited-edition poster featuring numerals is available along with many new items in our online shop at www.bowne.co!
05/10/2021
20-line Clarendon Extra Condensed, J. G. Cooley, ca. 1860
16-line Gothic
05/09/2021
12-line Tuscan Antique, Vanderburgh, Wells, ca. 1859
16-line Gothic
05/08/2021
6-line Tubbs Latin Ornamented No. 2090, Tubbs & Co., ca. 1895
16-line Gothic
05/07/2021
12-line DeVinne, ca. 1895
16-line Gothic
05/06/2021
5-line Clarendon, Morgans & Wilcox, 1860
16-line Gothic
05/05/2021
15-line P. T. Barnum
16-line Gothic
05/04/2021
18-line unidentified
16-line Gothic
05/03/2021
12-line Roman, ca. 1828
16-line Gothic
05/02/2021
6-line Cooper Black
16-line Gothic
05/01/2021
8-line Hamilton No. 167, Hamilton Manufacturing Co., 1879
16-line Gothic
05/01/2021
New items are in our online shop, www.bowne.co! Since we launched the shop over the holidays last year, we were pleased to see that our own stationery and broadside posters have been your favorites. It’s been so heartening to know that our community—made up of familiar friends and new ones alike—is keen to support what we do in these complicated times, so we have kept printing! And for the first time, by popular demand, our new offerings include boxed notecard sets.
04/30/2021
Today wraps the alphabet portion of ! We can’t wait to share our favorite numerals starting tomorrow. To celebrate, we’ve printed a poster, now available in our online shop at bowne.co! Each character is a favorite from our working collection of , set by hand and printed in a small edition on our Vandercook. It’s the first of several new house-designed items we’ll be adding to bowne.co soon, so watch this space for announcements!
04/30/2021
8-line Tuscan Concave, ca. 1858
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/29/2021
8-line Caslon Script, Morgans & Wilcox, ca. 1891
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/28/2021
8-line Tuscan Antique, ca. 1849
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/27/2021
10-line Gothic Pointed, ca. 1877
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/26/2021
12-line Tuscan Antique Ornamented Condensed, J. G. Cooley, ca. 1872
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/25/2021
10-line Antique Tuscan Double Extra Condensed, American Wood Type Co., 1859
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/24/2021
10-line Unique, ca. 1872
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/23/2021
12-line Composite Condensed, ca. 1870
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/22/2021
4-line Clarendon Extended, Vanderburgh, Wells, ca. 1860
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/21/2021
8-line Mowry Antique, William H. Page & Co., ca. 1872
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
04/20/2021
10-line Tuscan Antique No. 7, ca. 1859
6-line Gothic, ca. 1835
Address
209-211 Water Street
New York, NY
10038
Opening Hours
| Wednesday | 11am - 5pm |
| Thursday | 11am - 5pm |
| Friday | 11am - 5pm |
| Saturday | 11am - 5pm |
| Sunday | 11am - 5pm |
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Our Story
Bowne & Co. are letterpress print shops in downtown Manhattan and part of the South Street Seaport Museum. The shops’ resident printers use the Seaport Museum's extensive collection of historic printing equipment, moveable type and engravings to print custom jobs and retail items that are sold in house. The shops are open 7 days a week and invites visitors to watch and discuss letterpress printing in New York City. Please inquire about our monthly typesetting workshops!
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Interested in telling the story of Where New York Begins? Join the team at the South Street Seaport Museum! We’re currently looking for a Shopkeeper for Bowne & Co. to help run our stationery shop on Water Street, Deckhands for our operational vessels schooner Pioneer and tugboat W.O. Decker, Museum and Marine Educators, and Visitor Experience Associates to greet and engage with visitors!
Visit seaportmuseum.org/jobs to learn more and apply today!
Photo credit Richard Bowditch
Visit seaportmuseum.org/jobs to learn more and apply today!
Photo credit Richard Bowditch
For sharpen your pencils, ink your quills, and write a message by hand to your loved ones! The many artifacts and archival materials at the Seaport Museum reveal to us incredible calligraphy and messages from the past, as well as the tools and means of writing which were used to create them.
For example, our collections of maritime postcards are rich with notes and examples of everyday life from the turn of the 20th century. From a neat, short message written by a young sender to her cat (!) to longer messages of sympathy covering the back and front of postcards, and to a pencil-written telegraphic message sent during World War I by a young soldier to his family in New York letting them know he’s coming home and he’ll be okay, there is no shortage of surprises. Last summer’s Collections and Curatorial Interns had a blast reviewing and cataloging them; check out the blog they wrote about their experience at seaportmuseum.org/missives-from-the-past/
And while we love historic postcards, modern postcards are still printed and used to this day. Pick up a postcard, notebook, or stationery set in the Bowne & Co. online shop (www.bowne.co) and so that the loops and tails of your handwriting can become part of history today.
For example, our collections of maritime postcards are rich with notes and examples of everyday life from the turn of the 20th century. From a neat, short message written by a young sender to her cat (!) to longer messages of sympathy covering the back and front of postcards, and to a pencil-written telegraphic message sent during World War I by a young soldier to his family in New York letting them know he’s coming home and he’ll be okay, there is no shortage of surprises. Last summer’s Collections and Curatorial Interns had a blast reviewing and cataloging them; check out the blog they wrote about their experience at seaportmuseum.org/missives-from-the-past/
And while we love historic postcards, modern postcards are still printed and used to this day. Pick up a postcard, notebook, or stationery set in the Bowne & Co. online shop (www.bowne.co) and so that the loops and tails of your handwriting can become part of history today.
Starting today, two winter exhibitions are now on view at 12 Fulton Street, exploring “Where New York Begins” as well as the great liners of the early 20th century! The exhibitions include a new introductory gallery titled “South Street and the Rise of New York,” as well as a newly reconfigured return of the popular “Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914,” which was last on view prior to the pandemic.
Each exhibition will be open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 5pm, except the weekends of December 25-26, 2021 and January 1-2, 2022 when the Museum will be closed for the holidays. Admission is free, and advanced timed-entry tickets can be reserved at seaportmuseum.org/onview
While you’re here, be sure to check out our small Museum shop in the Museum Galleries at 12 Fulton Street, also open Saturdays and Sundays 11am-5pm, stocked with Museum-branded merchandise, maritime-themed gifts, and letterpress cards from Bowne & Co.
Photograph by Richard Bowditch
Each exhibition will be open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 5pm, except the weekends of December 25-26, 2021 and January 1-2, 2022 when the Museum will be closed for the holidays. Admission is free, and advanced timed-entry tickets can be reserved at seaportmuseum.org/onview
While you’re here, be sure to check out our small Museum shop in the Museum Galleries at 12 Fulton Street, also open Saturdays and Sundays 11am-5pm, stocked with Museum-branded merchandise, maritime-themed gifts, and letterpress cards from Bowne & Co.
Photograph by Richard Bowditch
The 1885 tall ship Wavertree, gloriously restored in 2016, was open and free to the public, an open-air venue aboard which visitors could get a glimpse of Where New York Begins. We also provided guided tours of the 1908 lightship Ambrose and free printing demonstrations at Bowne & Co.
Help us preserve and interpret our historic ships, collections, and buildings, by making a donation this at seaportmuseum.org/donate
Help us preserve and interpret our historic ships, collections, and buildings, by making a donation this at seaportmuseum.org/donate
begins today at sunset. As part of the festivities you can celebrate Hanukkah by playing with the dreidel or s’vivon. The dreidel is a traditional spinning top played with in homes all over the world, and this year our designers at Bowne & Co. created foil-stamped ones!
Check them out and grab a new set of letterpress Hanukkah cards over the next eight days and nights at bowne.co
Check them out and grab a new set of letterpress Hanukkah cards over the next eight days and nights at bowne.co
Today is Small Business Saturday: show your love for the history of the Seaport and job-printing by visiting our Bowne & Co. online shop and for friends and family. We have a new batch of limited edition letterpress cards, as well as your favorite paper gifts and treasures for the holiday season.
Additionally Bowne & Co. just released a new line of personalized stationery. Each set of 50 cards are personalized with the initials of your gift recipient (or your own!). Place your order by November 30th to ensure delivery before December 25th at bowne.co!
Additionally Bowne & Co. just released a new line of personalized stationery. Each set of 50 cards are personalized with the initials of your gift recipient (or your own!). Place your order by November 30th to ensure delivery before December 25th at bowne.co!
Our designers at Bowne & Co. have just released a new line of personalized stationery and a collection of holiday-themed notecards to our online shop! Designed and printed at Bowne & Co., these holiday cards are sure to leave an impression.
Additionally, consider gifting a set of 50 letterpress-printed flat notecards with envelopes personalized with the initials of your gift recipient (or your own!), which arrives in a pine stationery box! Place your order by November 30th to ensure delivery before Christmas.
Order your stationary, and check out the newly released line of holiday cards and gifts at bowne.co.
Additionally, consider gifting a set of 50 letterpress-printed flat notecards with envelopes personalized with the initials of your gift recipient (or your own!), which arrives in a pine stationery box! Place your order by November 30th to ensure delivery before Christmas.
Order your stationary, and check out the newly released line of holiday cards and gifts at bowne.co.
This we want to share some exciting news. We have recently acquired a Cincinnati Type Foundry “Washington No. 5” (25x39") Iron Hand Press!
A couple weeks ago, Jacob Simpson (Assistant Director & Curator) and Austin Hall (Volunteer) traveled to New York City to receive the donation of the press by the South Street Seaport Museum (Bowne & Co.). We have been working with the SSSM since mid-2020, and we are thankful to them for being the caretakers of this press for the last 40 years. After a 700+ miles road trip, The press is finally home to Cincinnati. It is currently in storage until our ongoing renovation and expansion projects are completed next year.
Come visit us! - https://www.cincinnatitypeprintmuseum.org/visit
A couple weeks ago, Jacob Simpson (Assistant Director & Curator) and Austin Hall (Volunteer) traveled to New York City to receive the donation of the press by the South Street Seaport Museum (Bowne & Co.). We have been working with the SSSM since mid-2020, and we are thankful to them for being the caretakers of this press for the last 40 years. After a 700+ miles road trip, The press is finally home to Cincinnati. It is currently in storage until our ongoing renovation and expansion projects are completed next year.
Come visit us! - https://www.cincinnatitypeprintmuseum.org/visit
Today we’re hosting the 11th Annual Taste of the Seaport festival! Visit Pier 16 and Pier 17 between 12-3pm, and learn about the incredible food and beverage scene of Lower Manhattan by sampling treats from over 30 purveyors. There will also be musical entertainment and activities for kids of all ages. All proceeds from the event will benefit arts and enrichment programs at neighborhood public schools P.S. 343 Peck Slip School and P.S. 397 Spruce Street School.
While you're in the area, be sure to come onboard our 1885 tall ship Wavertree and 1908 lightship Ambrose 11am-5pm. Free activities as part of the Seaport Museum Open Days also include free printing demonstrations at Bowne & Co., and a free outdoor exhibition on Pier 16; plus rides on the 1930 tugboat W. O. Decker are also available for purchase.
Image: 2019 Taste of the Seaport, courtesy of TotS and Agency 21
While you're in the area, be sure to come onboard our 1885 tall ship Wavertree and 1908 lightship Ambrose 11am-5pm. Free activities as part of the Seaport Museum Open Days also include free printing demonstrations at Bowne & Co., and a free outdoor exhibition on Pier 16; plus rides on the 1930 tugboat W. O. Decker are also available for purchase.
Image: 2019 Taste of the Seaport, courtesy of TotS and Agency 21
At Bowne & Co., the Museum’s 19th-century printing office, our designers balance preserving traditional printing processes while contributing to contemporary design discourse. The Museum’s working collection of type, images, and printing presses is squarely rooted in the 19th century, and the staff make an effort to use it in contemporary ways with some of their projects. This is in part because the story of letterpress printing extends well beyond the 19th century and also because designers love to explore!
Our latest series of notecards, based on historical grids, were created using an intentionally overly elaborate design process, and our printers wrote a blog about it. Check it out at bit.ly/notecarddesign
And don’t forget to purchase your set of cards at Bowne & Co. online shop at bowne.co!
Our latest series of notecards, based on historical grids, were created using an intentionally overly elaborate design process, and our printers wrote a blog about it. Check it out at bit.ly/notecarddesign
And don’t forget to purchase your set of cards at Bowne & Co. online shop at bowne.co!
Our annual series of building and district tours returns this year for Archtober!
This year, our district Typography History Walking Tours will return with free, in-person walking tours of the South Street Seaport Historic District. Discover where passenger and shipping services printed their tickets and advertisements with Bowne & Co. Art Director and Operations Manager Rob Wilson.
Tours will be held on Saturday, October 9, and Saturday, October 23, 2-3 pm ET. Tickets will go quickly, so be sure to reserve yours today!
Additionally, the Museum has released a series of “anytime” learning activities, ranging from virtual tours of Schermerhorn Row and the currently under-renovation Thompson Warehouse, to special blog posts and self-led walking tours, and an expansion of our Collections Online Portal to include over 120 new architectural elements from our collection. Check out everything the Seaport Museum is offering this at seaportmuseum.org/archtober2021
This year, our district Typography History Walking Tours will return with free, in-person walking tours of the South Street Seaport Historic District. Discover where passenger and shipping services printed their tickets and advertisements with Bowne & Co. Art Director and Operations Manager Rob Wilson.
Tours will be held on Saturday, October 9, and Saturday, October 23, 2-3 pm ET. Tickets will go quickly, so be sure to reserve yours today!
Additionally, the Museum has released a series of “anytime” learning activities, ranging from virtual tours of Schermerhorn Row and the currently under-renovation Thompson Warehouse, to special blog posts and self-led walking tours, and an expansion of our Collections Online Portal to include over 120 new architectural elements from our collection. Check out everything the Seaport Museum is offering this at seaportmuseum.org/archtober2021
The facade of our Bowne & Co. print shops at 207-211 Water Street, in the heart of the South Street Seaport Historic District.