Bourdelle’s copying press, on a small, high wooden table

This manual press was used to reproduce documents before carbon paper or photocopying were invented. The process was patented by Scottish engineer James Watt in 1780. The press comprises a fixed frame and a movable horizontal plate raised and lowered by a large screw. To copy a letter or drawing, a sheet of damp copy paper was laid over the original. They were then placed in the press. Under the pressure exerted by the lowered plate, the ink was offset from the original to the copy paper, creating a reversed copy that could be read through the thin paper.

Bourdelle had acquired his press by 1904, since it can be seen on the mezzanine, near the window,  in a photograph taken on 2 May of that year. The main subject of the photo is Bourdelle's first wife, Stéphanie, after a concert in the studio of the Belgian violinist Joseph Debroux (MBPH3114). The press is also discernible in a photo of Bourdelle and his son Pierre in the studio (MBPV3629), circa 1908-1909, when it was still on the mezzanine above the studio. The press was returned to this position in 2023.

Valérie Montalbetti Kervella