Oak Knoll

A three-ring binder which holds over a hundred samples of typography job printing by Francis X. Harrigan as well as a small box of many printing samples from Xavier Press.

Francis X. Harrigan (d. 2015) worked at the Printing Museum in Baltimore, Maryland for a number of years before founding in 1984 his publishing business, Xavier Press, where he specialized in printing miniature books. An avid stamp collector, much of the archive features work he did for various stamp collecting organizations around the United States. He published miniature books until 1998 when he shut down the press.

Xavier Press was founded in Baltimore, Maryland, and printed mostly handset-type books and prints using a 6 x 9 Baltimore #14 table top press purchased in 1937. Harrigan reports that he had 200 cases of type and over 200 fonts of type on the shelf at any given time. Harrigan's commitment to fine printing is illustrated in his comment upon receiving a poorly printed miniature book from a collector/publisher who was disappointed with it: "As for the printing, I can understand how you feel. I am surprised the printer didn't put his competitor's name on the piece. I almost felt like setting the title page and a few pages of text to show you how it should be handled." -Bradbury, page 327.