Day Moon Press

Day Moon Press was founded in 1976 by Maura Shapley, with the purchase of a fifty-dollar Chandler and Price letterpress and several cabinets of foundry type. She met Jack LeNoir in 1978, and they were married in 1980. Two years later, the Press was moved to its current building on Beacon Hill, which is also the family residence.

Over the years the Press acquired a variety of offset and letterpress equipment and small bindery tools, becoming a resource for artists, designers, and others needing production for small format unique projects. These included invitations, announcements, flipbooks, posters, linoleum and wood-block prints, continuous tone offset, and printing on substrates such as fabric, plastic, wood and previously bound books.

During the 90s, the Press minimized its commitment to commercial work in favor of the demands of preschool and early childhood obligations. After the turn of the century the offset equipment was phased out, and the Press became exclusively letterpress.

Since its founding, the Press has been involved in the preservation of the letterpress aesthetic, working with clients, designers and agencies in the uses of handset type, rich papers, relief-printed illustrations, and related letterpress operations including die-cutting and embossing.

The Press was a founding member of both the Book Arts Guild and the Book Club of Washington, and continues to support organizations and individuals interested in the Craft.