Printing Museum at Innerleithen

This morning we are visiting the Robert Smail's Printing Works which is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland. Between 1866 and 1986 the business printed anything from letterheads, invitations, business cards and newspapers all on lettepress machines, some connected to the in house water wheel and some still operated by hand and foot, using a treddle system. Included in the tour is the chance to have a go at typsetting your name to print onto a book mark and seeing 3 of the printing machines in action. As the old owners were of the opinion if it ain't broke don't fix it some of the equipment was very dated. They also never threw anything away so they have a copy of every printing job they have ever done either in large binders or wrapped in paper and stored on the shelves.
It was a great tour with very informative guides, we even bought a couple of souvenir posters printed on one machines. The business is still going and this afternoons job is wedding invitations ptinted in gold on the Heidelberg platten.Read more