Square, wood printing block of a seal. the seal has a bordering ring of text around portrait of a youth in profile. The Greek worlds along the top of the ring identify the seal as representing the Ilia Association and on the bottom, in English, it locates the group in Chicago, Ill. In the center of the seal is a close up portrait of a curly haired youth in profile. Tiny words written in English across his cheast identify the image as that of the "Hermes of Praxiteles." The stump of his raised arm is visible to the right side of the seal.

Donated by John Damianos. The printing block was used in a linotype printing machine. Linotype presses allowed for the casting of entire lines to be printed at a time. Linotype printing was eventually succeeded by lithograph printing and computer typesetting during the 1960's and 1970's. This printing block was used by the Chicago-based, Greek Art Printing Company that was owned and operated by Aristotle Damianos. The Greek Art Printing Company was responsible for the printing of a wide range of materials, including wedding invitations, invoices, flyers, programs, letterhead, etc., for Greek businesses, organizations, institutions, and individuals in the Chicago area, and elsewhere.

Ilia or Elis refers to the western part of the Peleponnese. The Ilia association may have been a cultural group of immirants from this region. The Hermes of Praxiteles was discovered in the 19th century in the ruins of a temple to Hera at Olympia. It is a 4th century statute depicting Hermes carrying an infant Dionysus to safety.

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