HATCH SHOW PRINT

Shelves of wooden letterpress blocks


Among the many great things Nashville has to offer (the Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame, burgers at Rotier's), Hatch Show Print easily emerges as the highlight. Located on the city's historic music row district, Hatch has been in operation for over 130 years, making it the country's oldest operating letterpress shop.

Opened in 1875 by brothers Charles and Herbert Hatch (who had learned the art from their father, a printer in Wisconsin), Hatch Show Print's very first job was to print a handbill announcing the arrival in Nashville of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe), and since then Hatch has steadily produced some of the most handsome promotional documents known to man.

Known primarily for their work with country music stars (for a while, the shop was located directly behind the Ryman), Hatch worked with many black jazz musicians of the day, and paid equal attention to their more overtly commercial projects, investing the same care and sense of design into every poster, whether it was for Patsy Cline or Graves Sausage Co.







Eventually purchased by an entertainment conglomerate, Hatch was donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992, who operate it to this day.


A movie poster from 1933.


Graves Whole Hog Sausages