Beginnings
Spine labels are the unlikely start point for what is probably the finest maker of books in Britain. Graham Moss’ background in teaching History led to paper conservation, turning in to a book repair business. Understanding how a book comes together meant a short step to binding, and binding needs those tiny printed slips — labels, book-plated, binders’ tickets. Graham got hold of a small Adana press in 1990 to print these components of the books he bound and repaired.
The more Graham experimented, the more he found the limitations of this small press, and he bought an Arab. This had to be hosted in the back yard shed, which opened on to Incline Road, Oldham. The Incline Press was born. By 1993 the success of book repair helped Graham leave teaching.
First Books
A chance meeting with illustrator Peter Carter arrived at the same time as purchase of a first edition of The Deserted Village, a 1770 poem about depopulation and the pursuit of excessive wealth. Carter’s illustration provided the title-page and this was teamed with Baskerville from John Eickhoff’s Acorntype foundry.
Enid Marx approached Graham to ask if Incline Press would be interested in collaborating on a new edition of Nursery Rhymes. Characteristic of the press, this book became the the first to be completed, with the original Deserted Village shifting to second from Incline Press.
Incline Press Established
By 1999, Kathy Whalen, formerly the Manuscripts Librarian at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, joined the press. This formidable partnership would drive the press to produce the most brilliant work.
New machinery in the form of a large AutoVic arrived and more lately a Ludlow to cast slugs of new type. New premises were needed and an 1820s joiner’s workshop became the new base for the press with machine room at ground level, accommodation above and case room and binding in the basement.
The press welcomed two dogs, too. Red and Skipper were the official companion animals of the Incline Press until the passing over of Red in November 2022.
The printing and life partnership that had been formed in 1999 between Graham and Kathy was broken in April 2020 when Kathy passed away following eight years of living with cancer. A commemorative book, Memento Mori: Memento Vivere is in production in a style that Kathy would have enjoyed — the variety of papers, colours, styles and tipped-in pages.
Thirty Years of Printing
For thirty years, the press has been creating wonderful books, but also the whole range of printing that a professional local jobbing house might produce: letterheadings, broadsheets, and of course labels. Each book is planned from scratch in meticulous detail — not always the specifics of which page will host which words, but the right combination of face, stock, colours and binding.
Just as the weaver must choose her yarns, her colourways and her pattern before she can set about weaving her rug, so we select the typefaces, the illustrations, the cloth and paper for book and binding, all of which is intended to complement the text that has first engaged us.”
Graham Moss and Kathy Whalen, Incline Press: A Brief Illustrated History, 2000
The power of this approach came home to me when Graham showed me Steel Horizon, a book about life on North Sea oil rigs, and for those left at home. The size of the book, the choice of industrial grey colours and sea-greens, words by Jonathan Wonham and lino cuts by Nick Wonham all come together.
Other creative partnerships include this BBC Radio programme with Graham instructing Eliza Carthy on treadle press operation as part of a programme on the Manchester Ballads.
2023
2023 opens a new chapter in the life of Incline Press. The amalgamation between the Wigtown Press and Incline Press is more than technical, with Helen and Graham marrying in April. More significant from a printer’s point of view is the decennial spring clean!
As it celebrates thirty years, the press continues to produce the most brilliant work: from the smallest card to the most sumptuous book.
I am personally indebted to Graham for being one of the first people to encourage me in printing, to teach me more about the craft and to be generous in sharing skills, knowledge and equipment with others just starting out. Thank you.
Year and Era
1993 / Modern
Object Type
Firms and Organisations
Location
Bow Street, Oldham, Lancashire
Sources and More Information
- Moss and Whalen; Incline Press: A Brief Illustrated History, 2000
Header Image: embedded from the Incline Press Flickr account.
British Letterpress in 100 Objects 