Albion Press, Faraday Museum of Technology, Napier

If the Columbian is the showpiece, the Albion is the press printers actually love. Richard Whittaker Cope designed it in London around 1820, and in place of the lever systems of the Stanhope and Columbian it uses a simple toggle: pull the bar and a hinged joint straightens, pushing the platen down hard. Fewer moving parts make it plain, sturdy and easy to work. After Cope's death the Hopkinson family carried the design on, and this one carries their name, Hopkinson & Cope of Finsbury, London, across the head. Albions were made in many sizes until the 1930s, used for proofing, jobbing work and by private presses. This one is in the Faraday Museum of Technology in Napier, New Zealand.