The history of the art of typography, from its infant steps in the era of pioneer printing press inventor Johannes Gutenberg, is encapsulated in a museum set up by a local Cretan newspaper publisher containing rare items and documents from around the world.
Yiannis Garedakis, publisher of the local Haniotika Nea (Chania News) newspaper, and his wife Eleni have collected an impressive collection of artifacts over the years. They are now on display in the museum that is tentatively hosted in a bookshop until more suitable premises are found.
The museum’s collection contains many rare and elaborate printing presses dating back to the 19th century, as well as more modern, automatic presses used throughout the 20th century, a host of typography tools, typesetting benches, replaceable/moveable wooden and metal letters, book-binding machines, a linotype machine, hand-operated presses, a foot-operated Heidelberg printing press (1920-1970) from Germany, an Albert Frakenhal automated press from Germany, and a plethora of other related tools and objects.
Most of the thirty large pieces of the collection have been purchased from Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
The museum further contains rare books dating back to the 16th century, original copies of Cretan newspapers from 1890 on, maps, paper currency and stamps from that era.
(source: ana-mpa)
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
