* I received the first copies of the "Luft Press" USA back in 1960, soon after starting publishing my own Signal. Got mail from Herman P Luft in Hermansville Michigan on August 27 60, Sept 23 60, Nov 11 60, Apr 4 61, April 13 61, etc. He sent me his letter press printed 6x9's magazines, 16-32 pages on paper stock of different colors, several issues, possibly using also the name "Mail Order Booster" or "Mail Order Rooster"...
* Other famous mail order papers in 1960-61 were for instance "I.M.O.B." from Ceylon, i.e. now Sri Lanka; (=International Mail Order Bulletin, 8-12 B4-pages, letterpress, on green paper); "Gazette Salesman" (small tabloid, letterpress, 8 pages) by William Shepiro USA; "The Spectator" (6x9" letterpress, 4-8 pages, green paper) by John E Heenan USA...
* The most famous co-publishable correspondence magazine was the "Western Heart" by Donald Neal USA, a fine glossy 16 page 6½x8½" offset magazine. John McGee was issueing the "Swap Bulletin", later the "Barter Bulletin", 2-page offset printed A4 ad sheet of philatelic exchange ads, I advertised and got fine results.
* Some of my personal penpals and collector friends in the 1960-61: Gina Mittag DDR, Judy Mann USA, Paul Small USA, Herbert John DDR, Anthony F Hogg USA working in the WHLM radio station - he sent me over 1.000 45rpm records - not for sale disc jockey copies in exchange for postage stamps.

History of Luft’s Advertiser

In the late 1930’s and 1940’s a young bachelor ran a grocery business in Hermansville. His name was Herman P. Luft. He also had an interest in printing. An older brother had a small printing press that Herman used to print a flyer listing his grocery specials. Other business people in Hermansville asked if he would print their ad on the back of his grocery flyer. After a few years the printing business was becoming larger so Herman decided to discontinue selling groceries and began printing the “Luft Press” (as it was titled at that time) on a regular basis in the early 1950’s. This small paper continued to grow over the years until Herman died in 1964.

Following the death of Herman P. Luft in 1964, his brother Fred’s wife, Irene Luft, decided to try running the business as a part time job. She changed the name to “Luft’s Advertiser”, and with the help of her husband and children, Leroy and Darlene, and a former employee of Herman’s, Arthur LeBombard, she successfully continued to build the printing business into a substantial enterprise. As the years went by and her children left home Irene found the business too much to handle on her own, even though her daughter-in-law, Mary Luft, and son-in-law, Ken Bertolini, were helping out at this time.

In 1976 Irene Luft’s daughter and sonin- law, Darlene and Ken Bertolini, took over the business on a full time basis. With the help of their children, David Keith, Darin, Kyle; nephew, Aaron; and David’s friend, Brett, the business continued to grow and thrive.

From the beginning, the type was hand set one letter at a time and the paper was printed by hand, fed one sheet at a time into the press. In 1999 a change took place in which the set-up was done by computer and printing was done by digital duplicator. The assembly and folding of the pages continues to this day to be done by hand at the kitchen table.

At the end of this year, Darlene and Ken Bertolini will be retiring and the business will be taken over by their son and daughter-in-law, Darin and Vicki (Bellefeuil) Bertolini. Darin and Vicki have purchased the former Christenson Building Supply building on Third Street in Hermansville and the printing business will be moving into this building as of January 1, 2005. With luck, hard work and the support of advertisers and readers, this story will continue well into the future. . . . .