The Demers Printing Press

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The Demers Printing Press
	The Demers printing press is a small hand-operated platen press that has great historic importance for British Columbia. It is on this press that British Columbia’s first French newspaper was printed as well as a number of English newspapers. One of the first books printed in British Columbia, Alfred Waddington’s Fraser Mines Vindicated, 1858 and the first prospectus for St Ann’s Academy were printed on the press.
The press was purchased for Bishop Demers by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, probably in Paris between 1848 and 1850 during his visit to seek assistance for his new diocese. He intended to use it to print religious tracts and educational materials, but as the first printing press in British Columbia its role expanded well beyond its original purpose. The press was used for printing the Le Courrier De La Novelle Caledonie and the first issue of the British Colonist. It went on to launch other new papers including the Caribou Sentinel and the Inland Sentinel. The press was made by Larilleux of Paris and it was probably almost 100 years old at the time it was purchased for Bishop Demers. It could print a 21 by 14 inch (53.34 cm x 35.56) sheet at a maximum rate of about 250 sheets an hour. It gathered dust for some years at the Inland Sentinel offices until 1908, when it was shipped to Victoria and placed on display in the Sisters of St Ann museum, before finally arriving at its present home at the Royal BC Museum.
PDF Files British Colonist British Colonist Le Courrier De La Novelle Caledonie Europe Issue1 Issue2 Issue3 Issue4 Issue5 Issue6 Issue7 Issue8 Issue9

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