Wilson Printing Office

Now open Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Visit the newly reopened Wilson Printing Office where printer in residence Martin Antonetti will be on hand to demonstrate the printing process for visitors. This shop was in operation for only a short time, but tells a remarkable story. From 1816 to 1820 two brothers-in-law printed almanacs and other “improving” books and literature, providing rural New England with new ideas and information at a key stage of its transformation. But the shop was economically precarious and its short life speaks “volumes” to the fragility of new, rural business ventures in the Early Republic. It is one of the few surviving 19th-century printing offices in the United States.

Martin Antonetti interprets early 19th-century American book culture at the Wilson Printing Office. He has been a curator of rare books, administrator, and teacher at institutions such as Smith College, Northwestern University, the Grolier Club of New York, and Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. He has also served as the president of the Bibliographical Society of America and the American Printing History Association.

Included with General admission!