Francis Cupiss, Diss

Head­ing to see a friend in Anglia, I took the chance to con­tact John at Fran­cis Cupiss, Diss. The reply shot back that John was away but Richard would give us a glimpse of the works.

We were invited to step inside the epi­tome of a prop­er print­ing works: cast iron guil­lot­ine, Columbi­an press, pair of Heidel­berg Platens. In fact a peek around the corner showed an Inter­type and the smell of the place was intoxicating.

Richard showed off the firm­’s work, detailed, cre­at­ive, metic­u­lous work from the smal­lest busi­ness cards to delight­ful posters reflect­ing the firm­’s first print­ing to pro­mote Cupiss’ Con­sti­tu­tion Balls for horses.

Friends Wel­come
Fam­ily by Appointment

Cupiss Poster, being prin­ted on the Heidelberg

Upstairs we were shown cop­ies of the Suf­folk Stud Book: annu­als of horse breed­ing, but beau­ti­fully bound and gold-blocked; halftone horses; and the lin­eage of beasts with long print­ers braces. All pro­duced in the same build­ing to the most exact­ing standards.

Today, Cupiss offers every­day print­ing for the people of Diss, but are also a beacon of let­ter­press printing. 

John and Richard run a com­mer­cial con­cern — this isn’t a work­ing museum or a hobby print­er­’s set-up gone too far. While they are still print­ing, please do keep them up and run­ning. The set up and Richard’s expert­ise and easy man­ner will be a remark­able head-start for any new let­ter­press print­er and the day of tuition/experience would be a great invest­ment for any printer. 

Thank you, Cupiss Print­ers, for show­ing us around!