In 1983, I was living in Gloucester and working from the family end-of-terrace house and its large garage as a letterpress printer and machinery mover.
Simon Lawrence of The Fleece Press contacted me looking for an Autovic art platen press. These were among the finest platen presses available, with excellent inking capacity and an exceptionally powerful and even impression, imparted by the parallel approach of the platen to the bed.
The Autovic was the British development of the German Victoria parallel-approach platen, manufactured in this country by Frank F. Pershke Ltd. of London from designs originating with Rockstroh-Werke of Heidenau, near Dresden. Pershke had already produced the smaller Vicobold, but the Autovic was a considerably larger and more substantial machine, intended for high quality commercial and fine printing. Unlike the familiar clam-shell platen, in which the platen hinges towards the bed, the Autovic brought platen and bed together in a parallel movement. This allowed the impression to be applied evenly over a large area without the need ever to adjust the angle of impression.
The bed was about 15 x 20 inches — Crown — and the maximum sheet size about 13½ x 18 inches, roughly SRA3: twice the printing area of my Arab Foolscap Folio, which was 13 x 9 inches. Because of the parallel action, the platen opened right up, giving plenty of time and space to hand-feed and deliver each sheet.
There was also an automatic feeder, a substantial separate unit which could be rolled towards the press on rails and attached to a buffer on the press. A chain drive from the press powered the feeder’s air compressor and feeding arms. It turned the Autovic into a commercial production machine, but the feeder could simply be moved out of the way when the press was to be hand-fed.
Simon did not want the feeder. He wanted just the press, on which to letterpress print his limited edition books and other matter.
In 1984, I was delivering presses on a trailer pulled by my 1972 ex-Electricity Board long-wheelbase Land-Rover, and this is how I took Simon’s Autovic to Yorkshire. There it remained at The Fleece Press for nearly forty years, producing the beautifully printed work for which Simon became known.
Eventually, approaching retirement and wanting to downsize from his spacious, but often cold, barn, Simon parted with the Autovic. Giles Hovendon collected it and took it to York, where Thin Ice Press had plans for the machine which, in the event, never materialised.
Thin Ice Press subsequently sold it to Graham and Helen Moss, who had moved their Incline Press to Creetown in Scotland. Sadly, as everyone in the small world of letterpress printing will know, Graham died soon after the move to Creetown.
Helen has now decided to sell the Autovic. And so, more than forty years after I first delivered it to Simon Lawrence behind my old Land-Rover, the same press is once again looking for a new home — and, one hopes, another printer who will put it to work for the next forty years.
This press is for sale on the AMR Logan Press website… https://amrloganpress.co.uk/marketplace/autovic/
Written by Patrick Roe, August 2026.
