Incorporating the same Lithograph press with which Maulana Abul Kalam Azad printed his Urdu daily Al Hilaal, city-based Sahar Art Press has been a silent observer of the historic printing evolution

A two-storied, approximately 600 sq ft room opposite Alpana Theatre in the old Laxmi Road area of the city might not grab the attention of passersby easily, but the room is steeped in history. Every corner of Sahar Art Press, one of the oldest printing presses in the city, has witnessed the evolution that ‘Press in India’ has undergone. From the oldest lithograph press on which Maulana Abul Kalam Azad used to print his newspaper Al Hilaal, to the Web Offset Machine that produces 30,000 copies of newspapers in an hour or for that matter, the Invicta Sheet Filtration Offset Machine best-suited for 2000-3000 copies, Sahar Art Press can well be termed as the bonsai of the publication industry.

“I am a calligraphy artiste, also called kaatib in Urdu. Those days, in 1963, when the printing technology was not as advanced as it is now, artistes would write the matter to be published on litho stones specially imported from Bavaria. I was one of very few artistes who were specialists in writing letters in reverse. This was done to ensure that the matter written on the stone would be printed in the regular manner on the paper, after pressing,” says Sahar Jalgaonwi, owner of Sahar Art Press as he points towards the oldest and historic Litho machine he would practise his art on.

... contd.