Un cimelio dell’antica Tipografia Francescana di Gerusalemme : Analisi del torchio manuale in ghisa

A hidtoric austrian letterpress printing handpress is stored in the Hall of the Custody of the Holy Land in Jerusalem. This press, that is in need of restoration, was constructed by the H. Löser factory in Vienna in 1860. It was used by the print shop of the Franciscan friars established in Jerusalem in 1847, thanks to the contributions of the Vienna General Commissioner. The aim of the first section of this article is to reconstruct how and when this printing press came from Europe by studying the connections between the Franciscans of the Holy Land and the Commissioner of Vienna documented in the letters of the Historical Archive of the Custody. The second part analyses this peculiar handpress from a technical and structural point of view. This investigation is based on seminal studies regarding nineteenthcentury printing handpresses and on a comparison of this press with its twin model that is preserved in Artogne, Italy, at the Museo della Stampa Lodovico Pavoni.