The Adana No. 2 High Speed
c. 1935-1950

The Adana Agency was founded by Donald Aspinall, of Twickenham, England in 1922. He served in WWI, and upon his return, in 1917, he built a prototype of a flatbed printing press. It is likely that he acquired his interest in printing while he was recuperating from the injuries he sustained during the war: it was common for hospitals to use printing presses as a form of occupational therapy. By 1922 the Adana Agency was advertising and producing its first model, the Adana Automatic Self-Inking Printing Machine.

Designed and manufactured from 1935 until the 1950s, the Adana No. 2 High Speed is a vertical platen press. It was replaced by the Adana Eight-Five, named after the size of its chase (the frame that holds the type). The No. 2 High Speed has a printing area of 6.5 inches by 4 inches, which permitted the printer to produce a wider range of printed matter, including handbills, and invoices.

The Adana Agency produced a variety of presses over the years, including both flatbed and platen presses, as well as treadle presses. They also manufactured printing accessories such as guillotines, ink ducts, and thermographs. Also offered in the Adana catalogue were inks, typefaces, fancy borders, and stock illustration blocks. The Adana Agency, and then as it was later known, Adana (Printing Machines) Limited, was in business until 1990, at which point it was absorbed by the Caslon Group, who ceased production of Adana printing presses in 1999. Most hobby printers as well as many professional printers, have, at some point, used an Adana printing press: Adana presses are among the most popular hand-presses of the twentieth century.

Richardson, Bob. The Adana Connection. The British Printing Society, London: 1997.

This webpage was researched and produced by Jenny Gilbert.