Tympan

In hand-operated letterpress printing, the tympan is the taut cloth or paper mounted in a frame which is placed over the sheet of paper immediately prior to lowering the platen to make the impression.

Tympan refers to a sheet of oiled manilla paper which was securely fastened to the face of the platen of a letterpress printing machine. Underneath the tympan would be a packing which would vary in grade of firmness relevant to the type or image to be printed. Pre-cut tympan papers were relatively expensive and, as such, were reused depending on their condition and the nature of the work. The under packing consisted of loose fibre paper/board (sometimes known as saffron) which absorbed the inpact of the letterpress principle thus avoiding damage to the hand-set or pre-cast typography or engravings.