Thimble press
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The Thimble Press was an eighteenth century printing device thought to be invented by Jefferson Hume, a relatively unknown Scottish engineer.
Resembling a thimble in shape, the metal container was worn over a finger and used to imprint ornate drop capital characters onto formal manuscripts. The metal character templates were attached to the thimble press via a small ratchet lever.
The device rapidly became redundant with the development of advanced lithography towards the end of the eighteenth century. With a production lifecycle of just a year or two, very few such devices were ever made, and are considered somewhat of a collector's item today, fetching auction values of several thousand pounds per press.
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