How to Identify Letterpress Engravings
- 1). Rub your most sensitive fingertip lightly across an image or bit of type, feeling for the slight indentation of the paper characteristic of letterpress printing. If the type is built up on top of the paper, it is printed by offset.
- 2). Hold the page at an angle to a strong light source, and to your eye. Look for type or an image area that seems slightly "sunken" into the paper.
- 3). Examine the type or image with a magnifying glass or loupe. Shining light across the page will help you see the indentation that identifies letterpress printing.