The Green Pale Press
We’re excited to announce the private press imprint of the Baylor Libraries Book Arts & Letterpress Lab, The Green Pale Press! The name is inspired by the first printing press established in England in 1476 by William Caxton (c.1422-c.1492) at the sign of the Red Pale in Westminster. The pale was a broad vertical strip on the field of an heraldic shield and as early as the 14th century, referred to a stake or fence made of stakes. The first book Caxton produced in Westminster was an edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in 1476. Established in 2024, under the direction of Sha Towers in collaboration with lab coordinator Jeanne Dittmann, the Baylor Book Arts & Letterpress Lab provides a place to learn through the hands and experience the history and practice of letterpress printing and book arts. The lab includes a number of working historical printing presses and hundreds of cases of movable type as well as tools and resources for a wide variety of book arts practices.
