Perkins D Cylinder Printing Press

This machine printed the original Penny Black and Two Pence Blue postage stamps first issued in May 1840. The inventor of the machine, Jacob Perkins, was an American living in London. The machine is exhibited at the British Library in London. It was patented in 1819. The sheets, printed by Perkins Bacon, consisted of 240 stamps in 20 rows and 12 columns. As the name suggests, the stamp was printed in black ink. Two values were to be printed, the 1d in black and the 2d in blue. When the die, engraved in reverse, was complete it was transferred by a roller to the plate 240 times and then the individual corner letters were punched in. Printing of the 1d labels on watermarked paper began on 11 April and on 1 May both it and the Mulready stationery were put on sale in London, becoming valid for postage on 6 May. By then some 600,000 labels were being produced daily. The 2d label followed, printing only beginning on 1 May 1840.

Perkins D cylinder Printing Press

Photograph 2006 by Jacqueline Banerjee. 

http://www.victorianweb.org/technology/print/1.html 

http://www.oobject.com/12-vintage-printing-presses/penny-black-printing-press-1840/6259/
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black 
http://postalheritage.org.uk/page/pennyblack