DISASTER HAS STRUCK !! SAD, BAD, NEWS
M.M.O.P. OPERATIONS ARE SUSPENDED
due to failure to attract support.

General Admission - as it was until 2018

And - who knows? - it may again be.
[ STILL LOTS OF PIX AND INFO on this website and links - Please READ ON! ]

OPENING TIMES

THE MUSEUM was OPEN, WITHOUT APPOINTMENT, ON SUNDAYS AND THURSDAYS, FROM 2 TO 5 PM.

GROUPS OF MORE THAN FOUR ARE REQUESTED TO ADVISE THEIR INTENTION, IF POSSIBLE.
See the contact page.

TOUR GROUPS (e.g. service clubs, school excursions) ARE POSSIBLE AT ANY TIME, BY APPOINTMENT.
SEE BELOW

VISITORS MUST READ AND UNDERSTAND OUR HEALTH AND SAFETY NOTICE AND MUST REGISTER IN OUR VISITORS' BOOK.

ENCLOSED FOOTWEAR IS RECOMMENDED. CHILDREN NOT ADMITTED UNLESS CLOSELY SUPERVISED.

GROUP TOURS

HISTORICAL NOTES

After several years in an earllier location, the Museum was closed from 1998 until 2004, when a limited service was started in part of our (then) new location at Moreland St.

More of the Museum then re-opened for public visits, classes for students of typography and the artists' access studio. It moved temporarily to 133 Cowper St in August 2010 but was closed again in January 2011 for relocation.

MMOP reopened in mid-2011 in a larger modern building on Geelong Road. The Show Room held about 5% of the collection including traditional letterpress typesetting and presses and examples of more modern systems. The Studio housed the working presses and hot-metal typesetting systems (Linotype and Ludlow Typograph), while much of the collection was still stored awaiting attention.

It was then all good for some years but the industry failed to offer support and by 2017 the Landlord pulled the plug - more explanation on Home Page.

What you can see - find the pix and stories!

Visitors are able to see various facets of typesetting and printing, including:

• Gutenberg's invention of movable types,
• Typesetting (by hand) with movable types,
• Linotype linecaster (hot metal composition),
• Ludlow Typograph linecaster (hot metal for large or fancy type),
• Poster types (usu. wood) for large lettering,
• engravings needed to print an illustration,
• stereotypes (duplicates of typesettings),
• Digital Typesetting systems (more modern processes),
• the hand press as used by early printers,
• the cylinder press (more modern process),
• newer printing processes e.g. Lithographic and Digital Presses,
• posters, books and other works printed in our studio by visiting artists,
• books in our Library of Books as Artefacts, where the interest is not "Who wrote it?" but "Who printed it, and how?",
• examples from our archival collections of thousands of artefacts and documents, illustrating the day-to-day work of the printing trade, and
• a slide show on traditional printing and the Museum's collections and programs.

ADMISSION PRICES

TOUR GROUPS

The Museum has welcomed groups of interested individuals from many kinds of organisation. These have included schools, seniors, service clubs, employee outings, even a car club or two.

Primary, secondary and tertiary students with "general interests" (as opposed to special interest in typography or printing) also take advantage of our tour program.

See the contact page to enquire.

The fee for group tours is $95 (tour guide for two hours) plus the appropriate admission for each person. There is no exact "cut-off" after two hours - if we're all enjoying it, visitors are welcome to stay on.

OTHER PROGRAMS

The Museum offers a range of educational and practical programs for practitioners and students in related fields.

All programs are designed to show what was involved in earlier ways of printing. Of great interest is the Gutenberg style of composing text with metal types, and the 20th century developments of machine composing (such as the Linotype).

The programs include the popular Graphic Students' Workshop, the Roots of Printing (Professional Development) Workshop and the "Two Days with Letterpress" experience. To read more, go to the Program Index page.

MUSEUM SHOP INFO PAGE

as at 20241030