Moveable Type: Kyle Durrie brings her Type Truck to the Library

photo: Derek Fagerstrom

In November 2010, Kyle Durrie “Kickstarted” her idea of combining two of her favorite things: road trips and letterpress printing. She launched an online fundraising campaign, and before she knew it, she was gutting the inside of a 1982 Chevy step van and outfitting it with a few thousand pounds of lead, wood, and iron.

Kyle Durrie printing

What she created is a functional letterpress print shop complete with a mid-20th century Showcard sign press and an 1873 Golding Official No. 3 tabletop platen press. She took it on the road and spent a year traveling across North America seeking out fellow letterpress enthusiasts.

Composing stick with type

She’s finally landed back home in Oregon and is busy with many projects, including her letterpress printing business Power and LightPress.

But the travel bug has bit her again, and she plans to take the truck back on the road. Kyle will visit the San Francisco Public Library on Tuesday, October 23rd, and park her Type Truck on Fulton Street alongside the Main Library between 1-5pm.

Wood type

Everyone is invited to step up into the van, try your hand at letterpress printing, meet Kyle and see for yourself how she made her moveable type dream come true.

Kyle’s visit has inspired a library-mobile caravan of sorts—during her visit, you will also have an opportunity to explore ProjectRead’s new all-electric outreach van and the Green Bookmobile.

Sponsored by Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts & Special Collections Center and in partnership with the Children’s Center, the Teen Center, Project Read and Bookmobiles / Mobile Outreach Services.

All programs at the library are free.

Refrigerator magnets from states Kyle visited.