The letterpress printing machine includes an impression cylinder (8), at least one inking device (11, 12, 13) with an inking train comprising inking rollers (25, 26, 28) and at least one letterpress form cylinder (14, 15, 16) inked by said at least one inking device (11, 12, 13). The at least one letterpress form cylinder (14, 15, 16) is driven by first drive means (30), whereas the at least one inking device (11, 12, 13) is driven by second drive means (31, 32, 33), the second drive means (31, 32, 33) being mechanically independent from the first drive means (30). A control unit is coupled to the second drive means (31, 32, 33) to adjust a circumferential speed of the inking rollers (25, 26, 28) with respect to a circumferential speed of the letterpress form cylinder (14, 15, 16) so as to adjust deposition of ink by the inking device (11, 12, 13) on the letterpress form cylinder (14, 15, 16). At least one of letterpress form (14, 15, 16) cylinder is preferably a numbering cylinder for numbering printed sheets or webs.