Letterpress printing has a history of nearly six hundred years. It uses raised metal or wooden type, inked and pressed onto paper to create both text and image. The process begins with the choice of typefaces, which are set and locked into a metal frame so that every letter sits exactly where it belongs. Ink is rolled onto the raised surfaces, a sheet of paper is laid over them, and pressure from the press transfers the form to the page.
The result is a printed surface with depth and texture—a quiet relief you can feel with your fingertips. This impression gives each page a physical presence that modern printing methods rarely achieve, and it is this sense of craftsmanship that we want our readers to hold in their hands.
At TOC, we design our layouts digitally and transfer them to polymer plates using our own laser setter. These plates are then printed on traditional letterpress machines, combining the precision of digital typography with the warmth of an analog reading experience. Our books are printed on an Original Heidelberger Cylinder Press from 1954 at die-lettertypen in Berlin, bringing historic machinery and contemporary design together on every page.
