The tramp printer was a typesetting troubadour with a story in lieu of a song, a hobo scholar, and a master of the type case. Carrying a union journeyman’s card and little else, these “tourist” typographers criss-crossed the continent for more than a century, train-hopping from newspaper to job shop, following the railroad tracks like fish following a river, chasing the seasons like migrating birds. They lived without belongings, without homes, and without romantic entanglements, traveling freely despite the hardships of the road, often just a few steps ahead of the village constable. Their pockets were forever empty of coin, but filled with scraps of poetry. Many of them were brilliant, literate individuals who were nevertheless possessed by a predilection for bacchanalian debauchery. They helped each other over the hard places and spread the craft of printing along the way.

Join us for the book release of “The Tramp Printers” by Eberhardt Press publisher Charles Overbeck, as we retrace the forgotten trails of the old tramp printers, re-discovering their eccentric adventures. And see demonstrations of the same types of typesetting and letterpress printing done by the tramps, right here at the IPRC.