The Arab Crown Folio Press
I got my Arab from a museum about an hours drive from me. It was in a terrible state with the ink rollers melted all over the frame and lots of
surface rust. It had been sitting in a shipping container for a number of years and many of the accessories (chases, etc) had been shuffled
around during various stages of reorganisation. My press came with a single chase, however another chase was found at a later date by
another buyer of the miscellania in the container.
Relocating this press was made easier when the museum storing it allowed me to disassemble it and take it home in several pieces over a couple
of weeks.
Serial number information supplied by The British Printing Society
Some presses dont come completely intact, but if you know a very skilled hobbying engineer with the equipment to do the work, all things are possible. This gear recovery was a work of art.
Not all reassemblies go according to plan - in this case one of the bolts split under fairly light pressure when being reinstalled and upon inspection
I found a few of the other bolts had linear cracking running down them as well. Not all that surprising on a 100 year old press which had probably
never been disassembled but been moved several times over its life.
...but they do get there in the end.
