1904 Christmas Card

[Dave Hughes]

George Finn Writes:

In 1904 Australian cartoonist Claude Marquet supposedly drew this Christmas card for the Victorian Printers' Union. It illustrates the acceptance of the Linotype machine by some compositors, while many more were unemployed because of it. Of course in the long run the reverse was true.
 
The cartoon depicts a compositor shaking hands with a Linotype. Behind the cat's tail the message reads "The Comps of the Season."  I assume a play on "Compositor" rather than an abbreviation of "Complements." Under "The Argus & The Australasian", I think it says "Printers Greet Their". I have been unable decipher the last two words. Maybe it could be a challenge to interested readers.

[Dave Hughes]

I've messed about with the contrast, etc. on the file George sent me and I think I've made it a bit clearer.

Fellow Craftsmen?

[Mechanic]

I spent two days looking at that line Dave, and if the posted time is any indcation you seemed to have cracked it in two minutes.

[Dave Hughes]

I spent two days looking at that line Dave, and if the posted time is any indcation you seemed to have cracked it in two minutes.

I've got to be honest. It took longer than two minutes, and fiddling about with the file in a photo-editor did help!

[Dave Hughes]

I just love this old (1904) Christmas card.

It's a while since it was first posted, so I thought it was time for it to be shown again!

Merry Christmas
All the Best for 2014

[Mechanic]

This card has been posted before but I thought that it was time for another airing

Claude Marquet, an Australian cartoonist, drew the above Christmas card for compositors employed by the Argus and Australasian newspapers in 1904. The card depicts a hand compositor welcoming a Linotype typesetting machine into the composing room. One Linotype machine with an operator could do the work of five hand compositors. The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, the first Australian newspaper to purchase Linotypes, installed 12 in 1894. Although the machines were not welcomed by the print unions in the beginning, their introduction reduced the cost of production and, as costs fell, newspapers grew in size resulting in additional employment of union staff. Linotypes and similar machines were the main method of typesetting until they were replaced by computer controlled phototypesetting machines in the 1970's and 80's. The Sydney Morning Herald had in excess of 110 machines when they were finally phased out in 1984.

[John Cornelisse]

Would it be possible to post a less fuzzy scan of this hilarious card ? It is very hard to read all text on it.

[Mechanic]

Sorry John, That is about as good as it gets. The text behind the cat's tail reads "The Comps of the Season". Dave Hughes and I have mulled over the text for a number of years.

[John Cornelisse]

There might be an archyve of the newspapers, or a
central library of the government somewhere with copies of
the newspapers of that time...

They might be hard to find though.

Happy Christmas anyway

[Dave Hughes]

Merry Christmas to everyone who visits the Forum.

Enjoy (again) this Christmas card from 1904.

[printsmurf]

Dave, are you flagging this now because it has just arrived in the post?

[Dave Hughes]

Dave, are you flagging this now because it has just arrived in the post?

Very good Steve! For those of you not based in the UK, Steve is referring to the postal strikes here. Many groups of workers are now taking industrial action due to rampant inflation, paltry wage increases and incompetent government.

[Ian Beissel]

Here is a clearer image of the 1904 Xmas card, which was reproduced as an illustration in a journal article:



Marian Quartly (2005), 'Working-Class Heroes: Labor Cartoonists and the Australian Worker, 1903-16', Labour History, November 2005 (No. 89), pages 159-178 (the illustration is on page 168).

The image was sourced from: Joan Kerr (1999), "Artists and Cartoonists in Black and White: The Most Public Art", published by S. H. Ervin Gallery, National Trust of Australia.

The artist, Claude Marquet (1869-1920), began his working life in the newspaper industry as an apprentice compositor at the Kadina and Wallaroo Times newspaper in South Australia.  By 1888 he was working as a 'comp' for the Broken Hill Argus in Broken Hill (western New South Wales).  The Argus was bought out by a rival newspaper and Marquet and other unemployed 'comps' went to Adelaide (South Australia) to find work.  Marquet then worked for The Advertiser in Adelaide, where he later found work as an artist.  Marquet clearly had an affection for his early career as a compositor (check out his cartoon published in The Bulletin in March 1900: 'Sticking to His Kopje'  https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-661986568/view?partId=nla.obj-662021077 )

[Dave Hughes]

Thanks very much for the info Ian, and the better-resolution image. Much appreciated!