Since 1965, the Ad Lib Press has operated as a private press, creating a variety of kinds of printed materials, from small ephemera and notecards to books. The "Prop." has long been interested in the design of type and the way it is used and enjoys playing with its arrangement on the page and the color and choice of accompanying graphics.

The Ad Lib Press equipment collection includes an 1870s-vintage ornate hand press made by the Cincinnati Type Foundry (pictured above), an early 9x13 Liberty platen job press also made in the 1870s, an 1890s-vintage 8x12 Golding Official tabletop lever press, and a 6x9 Sigwalt "Nonpareil" tabletop lever press that has been the workhorse of the shop for many years. Proofs can be pulled on the Poco proof press. In a concession to the 20th Century the Press also owns a small offset press. 

The hand-set type collection focuses on Frederic Goudy's Deepdene type face, but there are also many antique and reproduction antique type faces as well as other more modern ones. In addition, we have about 20 fonts of antique wood poster type ranging in size from 1 inch to 1 foot high. A miscellany of antique ornaments and engravings rounds out the eclectic collection. 

The Prop. has also taught printing and the book arts at a number of venues, including the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the Penland School of Crafts, and the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshops. These courses have included paper marbling and bookbinding in addition to the mainstays of typographic design, typesetting, and printing, as well as a survey of printing history.