About The Craftsman Press

 

This archive features the printing cuts and typefaces of The Craftsman Press, a thriving social and commercial printing establishment founded and operated by Oscar Johnson Sr. from 1954 until its closure in 2001.

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In the 1940s, Johnson met his wife, Sylvia Roberts, at the City Press, where they both worked. After marrying in 1950, they purchased the City Press in 1954 and re-named it The Craftsman Press. They operated the press at a location on Bank Lane in the downtown Nassau area until 1960, when they moved the press further into town at a property on Fort Fincastle opposite the Queen’s Staircase. Once they acquired the Bryn Johns Press and merged it into their printing operation, they moved the press once more in 1970 to a property on Hawthorne Road in Oakes Field.

Many notable Bahamians worked at the Press over the years either as trainees, summer students, or as career printers, including Leslie Butler, Rev. Nathaniel Mackey, Stafford Symonette, Rev. Myles Munroe, Livingstone ‘Bones’ Hepburn, Stanley Burnside, and Simeon Ambrose.