George Pfeiffer

Eulogy

Obituary

Transition:  the
Chandler & Price
moves from Hilltop Hobbies Press to 
Sandcastle Press

A "press" is more than a machine.  It is the entire printing endeavor of a person or a group of people.  Maintaining standards of quality, aesthetics, and integrity allows the craft of letterpress printing to live on with honor in our society. 

In 1955, George Pfeiffer purchased an old Chandler & Price press.  Letterpress printing was no longer used commercially.  Except for the perseverance of dedicated amateurs, it might have become extinct in the United States.
 

George Pfeiffer named his letterpress printing endeavor Hilltop Hobbies Press, and printed joyfully for almost forty years.  His wife, daughter and son all seriously pursued artistic hobbies -- hence the name inclusive of the family's activities and values. He helped to found the Moxon Chappel, a group of amateur printers in Northern California.  He belonged to the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco, a group dedicated to the preservation of fine letterpress printing.  His son, Douglas Pfeiffer, stood on an apple box learning to set type and followed his father into the publishing business.  Doug received the old Chandler & Price press, and along with his wife and children print for their own Sandcastle Press.

The Imaginary Press is the printing endeavor of Lynne Pfeiffer Spahn, daughter of George Pfeiffer. 

I never learned to set type well, nor do I possess a real letterpress.  But my love of printing persists in the same spirit.   My press may look like a computer to the uninitiated, but to me it looks exactly like Dad's old Chandler & Price! 

The Imaginary Press creates both actual and virtual printed pieces in the form of  webpages, cards, and pictures.   It is a joy to be able to scan and print the paintings of my mother, Louise Pfeiffer. 

My father encouraged me by saying, "Lynne, you have a good imagination!"  Thanks Dad!