The Founding of Horn Press 
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In the fall of 1960 the first 50 students entered the School of Library Service at UCLA, with a one-year curriculum having been created by Andrew Horn after his arrival as the first library school faculty member in 1959. In addition to the standard classes in bibliography and library education, Horn believed students should also have the opportunity to learn about typography and printmaking, which he believed to be important adjuncts to the study of analytical and textual bibliography.

To facilitate demonstrations and classes in fine printmaking, Professor Horn assisted in the acquisition of printing presses for the university, which were installed in the basement of Powell Library (now known as College Library.) A 19th century Albion hand press was located in England and acquired through the Friends of the Library in 1961, later to be accompanied by a Reliance (Washington) Press in 1965, a gift of a Los Angeles printer, William Wolfer Jr., in memory of his father, who was a California printing pioneer. These presses were the first bibliographic press equipment acquired by a library school in the United States.

A “Printing for Bibliographers” class (GSLIS #429) was instituted by Professor Horn and in 1964, with students from the printing class, a printing chappel, or society, was formed in cooperation with UCLA’s Powell Library, the School of Library Service, and the Department of English. The Chappel (later renamed The Horn Printing Chappel in honor of Professor Horn upon his retirement in 1978) continued with its printing activities as UCLA acquired more printing presses. A Clymer & Dixon no. 640 press made in London in 1834 by its inventor, John Clymer (kindly loaned to the department by Dr Edward Petko, a former UCLA student and collector of the printing presses and printing materials) arrived in 1976. In 1978 a Columbian hand printing press, famous for its exuberant decoration as well as for its extraordinary ease of operation and accuracy of impression, was also acquired for the chappel by Dr. Petko, and a Har-Ma press was added in 1981. Dean Horn retired in 1978, but continued to teach until his death in 1983.

As the 1980s progressed, the age of the original buildings at UCLA (which were constructed in 1929, including Powell Library, home of the graduate library school) became apparent and, following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, seismic retrofitting became a priority to preserve the buildings’ structural integrity. To accommodate the retrofitting plans approved by the UCLA Regents, Powell Library was scheduled to be vacated in 1992, and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (as the SLS was renamed in 1973) moved into its current location, adjacent to the Young Research Library. Unfortunately, there were no appropriate facilities for the Horn Chappel presses. The Columbian Press was moved to the Center for Bibliographic Studies at UC Riverside, where it remains. Several of the presses were placed in storage at the UCLA Clark Library in Los Angeles, while others were placed in the custody of Professor Diana Thomas.

In 2003 a resurgence of student interest in the study of typography and letterpress resulted in the formation of the current Horn Press printing chappel. The presses at the Clark Library will be utilized to conduct printing instruction and demonstrations, carrying on the tradition established by Andrew Horn and the graduate students in UCLA’s department of library and information science.

(Compiled by Elizabeth Spatz, derived from the “History of the Horn Chappel Press,” courtesy of the UCLA University Archives' finding aide for the Graduate School of Library and Information Science - Horn Printing Chappel Files, and UCLA Librarian, “A Tribute to Andrew H. Horn” with articles by Byron H. Atkinson, Betty Rosenberg, and Diana Thomas, vol. 31, no. 6 (June 1978.))

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