Letterpress Stationery
Personalized letterpress stationery from Moontree Letterpress, printed by hand on antique presses in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. For more than 20 years, we've crafted notecards, correspondence cards, and letter sheets on 100% cotton paper, designed for personal letters and professional correspondence. Every order is printed to order in our studio along the Delaware River, no outsourcing, no digital substitutes, no shortcuts.
What Is Letterpress Printing?
Letterpress is one of the oldest forms of commercial printing, dating to Johannes Gutenberg's movable type press in the 15th century. The process is straightforward in concept and exacting in practice: raised type or plates are inked, then pressed into paper with enough force to leave a physical impression.
Modern letterpress printers like Moontree use antique presses, many built in the early 1900s, paired with contemporary photopolymer plates that allow custom designs and typography. The presses themselves are mechanical, not digital. Each card is fed by hand, inked by hand, and inspected by hand.
The result is stationery with three qualities that distinguish it from any other printing method:
- Tactile depth. Run your fingertip across a letterpress card and you can feel the type. This impression, sometimes called a "bite", is the signature of the craft.
- Ink saturation. Because the ink is pressed into the paper rather than sprayed onto it, letterpress inks sit richly on the page with a matte, saturated finish.
- Paper quality. Letterpress demands soft, absorbent paper. We print on 100% cotton stock, which is thicker, more durable, and more pleasant to write on than standard wood-pulp paper.
Who Uses Letterpress Stationery?
Letterpress stationery serves three main audiences, each with slightly different needs:
Personal correspondence. Notecards for thank-yous, condolences, invitations, and everyday letters. A box of personalized letterpress notecards on your desk makes written correspondence a habit rather than a chore. Our personal stationery collection includes monogrammed and name-based designs across traditional and modern typographic styles.
Professional correspondence. Attorneys, executives, consultants, financial advisors, marketers, and salespeople use letterpress stationery for client notes, introductions, and follow-ups. In an era of email, a handwritten letterpress card arrives with weight — literally and figuratively. It signals care, permanence, and attention to detail that digital communication cannot replicate.
Gifts. Personalized letterpress stationery is a gift that lasts. Boxed notecard sets, monogram designs and custom stationery are popular for housewarmings, graduations, weddings, new jobs and milestone birthdays.
How to Choose Letterpress Stationery
A few considerations when selecting personalized letterpress stationery:
Typography. Font choice sets the tone. For formal or professional use, consider engraver-style faces like Copperplate or Engravers Gothic, or classic serifs like Cormorant Garamond. For personal correspondence, more relaxed options like scripts, geometric sans-serifs like Futura, or typewriter faces feel appropriate. Our design collections are organized around these typographic families.
Personalization. Most letterpress stationery is personalized with a name, initials, or address. Consider how the cards will be used: a full name works for professional correspondence, while initials or a first name may suit personal notes.
Quantity. Letterpress setup involves physical plate-making and press calibration, so quantities start at 20 or 50 cards depending on the design. Larger quantities reduce the per-card cost.
Why Moontree Letterpress?
We've been printing personalized letterpress stationery for over 20 years, both here and on the @moontreepress Etsy shop, which has earned more than 1,240 five-star reviews. Every order is printed in our studio in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on antique presses we maintain and operate ourselves. We don't outsource printing, and we don't sell digital prints as letterpress. Every card that leaves our shop has been pressed into cotton paper on a cast-iron press.
Our work has always been about preservation: keeping a centuries-old craft alive by using it for the correspondence people actually want to send.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between letterpress and regular printing? Regular (digital or offset) printing lays ink flat on the surface of paper. Letterpress presses inked plates into the paper, leaving a tactile impression you can feel. The paper itself is different too: letterpress uses soft cotton paper, while digital printing typically uses wood-pulp stock.
How long does a letterpress stationery order take? Our standard turnaround is about 2 weeks from proof approval. Rush orders may be available depending on studio capacity, contact us to ask.
Can I see a proof before printing? Yes. Every personalized order includes a digital proof for your approval before we go to press. Physical proofs are not available.
What paper do you print on? 100% cotton paper, available in traditional soft white. Cotton paper is thicker, softer, and more absorbent than standard paper, which is why letterpress impressions look and feel the way they do.
Do you ship outside the US? At this time, we only ship domestically from our Pennsylvania studio.