Josef Beery draws a crowd.
On a Thursday in June, the University of Virginia alumnus coated inkballs (goat leather stretched over stuffing, attached to a wooden handle) in dark ink, and rhythmically rolled them over a metal plate bearing the words to the Declaration of Independence. The plate is a replica of an original copy held in UVA’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. UVA holds two of 26 known surviving examples from the 200 copies first printed.
With exactly two pulls of a lever, Beery made a copy of the Declaration on a replica Franklin printing press, so named because Benjamin Franklin purportedly used a similar press in London. A small group of visitors to the University, as well as English professor Matthew Kirschenbaum, gathered to watch and listen to Beery explain what he was doing.
Beery poses with a copy he made of the Declaration. He calls it “an incendiary document.” (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
On July 4, Beery will do the same for the public at “Revolutionary Printing,” an event that the UVA Library is hosting in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Beery has run printing demonstrations for Rare Book School at UVA for years, after he stumbled into an interest in printing and rare books decades ago as a UVA student.
“I didn’t really think about printing, but I got here, and my roommate was interested in printing,” Beery, who came to UVA in 1975, said.
An Echols Scholar, Beery studied architecture and history, but his roommate introduced him to Special Collections curator Clint Sisson. In 1978, Sisson built a replica press based on diagrams he drafted of the Smithsonian Institution’s Franklin press.
“Every book in the University Library was printed on a press like this up until the 1800s,” he said. “The Declaration of Independence was printed this way; the Luther Bible was printed this way. It was how they communicated and archived information. I figured it was a pretty important device.”
Beery was fascinated by his roommate’s work on printing and papermaking with Sisson, though he still intended to become an architect when he graduated. But by the time he graduated, the architecture jobs weren’t there.
He became a publication designer instead, since book designers, like architects, still used drawing boards and T-squares. He made materials for Virginia Humanities, UVA Library, the School of Law and other groups, but quickly became bored when the T-squares went away and computers came in.
“I started becoming interested in how printing originally occurred, and I went back to those memories I had of meeting Clint Sisson and this press, and I started digging around,” Beery said.
Around the same time, he started a group called Virginia Arts of the Book Center, now known as Virginia Book Arts. The group teaches the history and craft of the book. Shortly after, Rare Book School moved from Columbia University to UVA. He began taking classes in the 1990s.
Beery’s process mimics how 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence were printed on the night of July 4 and early morning of July 5, 1776. Of the 26 surviving copies, UVA Library holds two. (Photos by Matt Riley, University Communications)
“I found this press sitting in the McGregor Room, underused, and then Rare Book School decided they would start using it for demonstrations. So, they got it out, and they put it up on the second floor of what was then called Alderman Library, outside the men’s room. That’s where I gave demonstrations on this press for many, many years,” Beery said.
Now, the replica press has pride of place in the south gallery on the main floor of Special Collections. As interest in his demonstrations grew, Beery began receiving invitations to tour with them. The problem was the Franklin press was too clunky to transport easily.
