These were the Rolls Royce of printing presses in their day and the first example was manufactured in Philadelphia by George Clymer 200 years ago in 1813. Once common throughout New Zealand, only six examples are known to have survived in this country including this one which was once used to print the Auckland Star.

Ralph Hotere used the Columbian press now installed at the Otakou Press, University of Otago, to print Bill Manhire's poem PINE using various wooden type faces in 1971. Rather than roll ink onto the type faces Ralph used brushes and often wiped away the ink with a rag to achieve a washed out, dissolving effect in the printing process. Ralph's 'columbian' prints often feature a colophon printed on the bottom of the page mentioning that they were printed on the Royal Columbian hand-press at the Bibliography Room, University of Otago.