The collection

The Luxembourg Museum of Printing and Playing Cards has two collections, illustrated in two permanent exhibitions.

The collection comprises a wide range of different objects, including large printing machines, lettering in wood and metal, around 15,000 different motifs on printing blocks, well over 1,000 packs of cards, printing blocks and templates from historical playing cards, books and other printed products to bookbinding equipment and much more.

As in most museums, visitors only see a small part of the collection, the majority of the objects are kept in the archives.

The collection consists mainly of items on loan from the MNAHA, donations from Luxembourg printers, donations from former printers and typesetters and from dedicated private individuals.

 



Numbering machines


Numbering machines are precision mechanical devices that automatically advance or revert to the next digit after each print.
They are inserted into the printing press to enable a print run to be printed with consecutive numbers.


 
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Composing stick


The composing stick is the main tool of the hand setter.
With its movable part, it can be adjusted to any size using a lever, wedge or screw lock.
This is where the individual letters are assembled into lines, which later form the finished text.

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