To poet and master printer Alan Loney, the 163-year-old engineering masterpiece is the tool he will use to create a work of art.
Mr Loney (67) arrived on Thursday from Melbourne to be the university's 2008 printer in residence, and will spend the next five weeks using the Albion flat-bed press to hand-print a 32-page book based on the works of Dunedin poet and writer Ruth Dallas.
Only 100 copies will be printed, with 90 offered for sale at $200 each.
A poet and former newspaper proofreader, Mr Loney has been hand-printing since 1975.
It is a laborious task which involves selecting each lead letter, compiling them into words, lines and paragraphs, then printing them on to paper.
In Melbourne, he leases an Albion press, paying its owner "a copy of every book published and a case of good Barossa Valley wine per annum" for the privilege.
Once dumped or melted down for scrap, historic working presses could now cost up to $NZ30,000 each, he said.
The university's press room also houses a 1860s Columbian Eagle press and a Vandercook proofing press built in the 1950s, as well as many drawers and cabinets full of lead type, all saved since the 1960s by university staff members including Dr Keith Maslen and the late David Esplin.
The array of equipment was "astonishing", Mr Loney said.
"We are talking about a craft which, like embroidery, glass blowing, lace-making, paper-making and book binding and others, suddenly became obsolete at the end of the 19th century.
To have a room dedicated to printing like this is fantastic."
Mr Loney said his new surroundings had already given him inspiration, holding up several blocks showing images of flowers and a stylised sun.
"These are printer's ornaments, probably made in the UK or the United States. They are the 19th-century version of shop art images you get on a computer.I think I will be able to use them."
Mr Loney said he had been planning the Dallas book for about four months.
He had been hoping to print unpublished poems, but none existed.
Instead he planned to use fragments of her poems - "really terrific lines", together with nine or 10 haiku (short verses of 17 syllables) Dallas wrote shortly before her death but never published.
He hoped to create a series of texts which could be read as a single poem or as fragments.
Mr Loney had also hoped to involve Dallas in the work, but she died in March.
However, he said she was aware of the concept for the limited edition book and was very supportive.
Born in Lower Hutt, Mr Loney attended the University of Otago in the early 1970s and was literary editor of the student magazine Critic in 1971.
His poetry has been published regularly for the past 40 years.
He said he had met Dallas, although he did not know her.
"We shared a national poetry prize in 1977. When we went up to collect our prize - $1000 each, which was a lot of money in those days - we walked up arm in arm."
Mr Loney said he was excited to be able to spend five weeks working in Dunedin.
"Hand-printing is uneconomic as a commercial venture, so being employed for five weeks to create something unique . . . is fantastic."
