National Trust Project: A Trip to Palace Printers

Our collaborative project with the National Trust took us on a trip to South East Cornwall to learn more about small press printing. We are working in collaboration with the National Trust, author Natasha Carthew and illustrator Steve Buckler to publish a novella. Our trip took us to Palace Printers which was first established in 1987. This local staple is known for its reliability and the quality of their work within a traditional printer set up. We will be working with them to print Natasha Carthew’s novella, Song of the Forgotten.

Visiting Palace Printers

Journeying to Lostwithiel, we met with Roy, owner of Palace Printers, a small press printer, and his son, Joules. Roy explained the printing process, detailing the different machines that stood dotted around the room and his in-depth experience in the craft. As we were talking, local people walked in off the street asking for jobs to be done, giving us an insight into the variable life of working at a small press printer.

“Because of the nature of the work…there’s no such thing as a typical day.”

— Roy

“Because of the nature of the work…there’s no such thing as a typical day,” Roy explained. The press takes on walk-ins, meaning that in any one day he could end up with a variety of different jobs to complete without a clear, set-in-stone schedule to follow. “It’s intriguing to work out how to do different things,” Roy said of the different jobs they get through the door. Some of the printing they do includes leaflets, business cards, books, brochures and even raffle tickets for local causes. “There’s no money in it,” Roy said, “but 90% of the time you do it because it’s for a good cause.”

The variety of jobs is one thing that sets Palace Printers apart from the bigger printing presses. “We’re not a conventional printer,” Roy states. And this unique community focus leaves the press with plenty of foot traffic. Instead of advertising, the press relies on word of mouth and their good name as a printer, meaning that they have a lot of locals coming in for jobs to be done. This, Roy stated, is one of the things he enjoys about working in a small printer rather than the bigger ones, where they wouldn’t have such a close working relationship with their customers. The process is also a part of it, ‘seeing the end product’ and being able to see the physical product rather than just on a screen.

Printing Apprentice

Roy did not always have a career in printing in mind, however. He started out with an apprenticeship with a car manufacturer first, before the company went bankrupt and he had to find another job.

“The main floor manager took a shine to me…Then the apprenticeships came up and he called me into his office and told me I was doing it.”

— Roy

At age 18, he went knocking on factory doors in Bodmin looking for work. “At the end of the day, I was offered seven jobs. I took, blindly, one in printing.” Roy explains, “I had a good feeling about it when I went in there.” After working there for a while and finding he had a talent for the job, Roy eventually landed himself an apprenticeship. “The main floor manager took a shine to me…Then the apprenticeships came up and he called me into his office and told me I was doing it.” After two years Roy decided to stick with the printing path, feeling this is more where his talents lie. After this, he worked at a big publisher for 27 years, before ending up at Palace Printers which he has owned for the past 8 years.

The Future for Printing

Palace Printers is part of a fast-changing sector, being quickly overtaken by digital, like many other sectors of work. “People looked up to them [printers],” said Roy. “That’s all gone now. The skill element has gone, that’s why a lot of the old printers don’t recognise digital printing, because the skill isn’t needed anymore. With digital printing, you just need to know the software.” In comparison, the litho printing needs more skill and training, as it requires skill with the machinery, and tweaking the prints to get them right. Although digital printing is faster, Roy prefers litho printing still. “I think it’s the challenge”, he said. Roy also explained that they made the decision to get rid of the litho printing as it is generally used for longer productions due to cost reasons, whereas digital printing is for smaller prints. “The thing with these is speed,” Roy said, referring to the digital printers either side, “the technology will get better and better”.