Printing Phrases - A Dab Hand - video

[Dave Hughes]

A short video from the great-looking Robert Smail's printing works in the Scottish borders explaining this print-related phrase which has become part of our everyday language.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjUj_99U2yk

Ever wondered where the phrase 'A Dab Hand' comes from? At Robert Smail's Printing Works in the Scottish Borders, Colin takes you back in time to the world of traditional letterpress printing to reveal the surprising origins of this common phrase.

Discover a fascinating part of Scotland's printing history with this hands-on demonstration!

Robert Smail's Printing Works is the oldest working commercial letterpress printers in the UK – a living museum of Victorian history!

An important part of Scotland's industrial heritage, Robert Smail's is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland - the charity that cares for, shares and speaks up for Scotland's magnificent heritage. We're Scotland's largest membership organisation and we're independent from government.

Between 1866 and 1986, newspapers, business cards, stationery for local traders and letterheads all passed through the inky presses of this Robert Smail's. The Trust purchased the printing works in 1986 and have kept it as a genuine working printers.

The printing presses, some of which date back to the Victorian era, can be seen in action; shelves of type line the walls, revealing the changing fashions for typefaces; and 52 giant guardbooks showcase almost every item printed by the family firm.

[Paul W. Nash]

I am thinking of founding the Society for Exploding Mythological Typographical Expressions (or SEMTEX).

This is one of them. The interesting thing is that this etymology was taught to apprentices in the British printing industry from at least the beginning of the twentieth century, so that a great many people who worked in the industry believe it to be true.

The OED suggests no origin for the expression "a dab hand" but the uses quoted (traced back only to 1811, when ink-balls were on their way out and were not in any case known as "dabbers") certainly give no indication of a printing origin for the term.

If it were a printing term one might expect to appear in some printing manual or vocabulary of the hand-press period, and I have never found it there.

Indeed, as I say, the noun "dabber" and the verb "dabbing" were not known in the printing industry until the end of the eighteenth century, when they were applied initially to illustrative printing surfaces (chiefly intaglio plates).

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, at least, the noun was invariably "ball(s)" and the verb was "to beat". However, it makes a nice story ...

[Alan Thompson]

I am also thinking of setting up a group called CRAFTS - Compositors and Readers Against Falling Typographical Standards. Would you like to be our second member?

[Dave Hughes]

I am thinking of founding the Society for Exploding Mythological Typographical Expressions (or SEMTEX).

Thanks for posting Paul - I think you're right. I've never heard the word "dabber" or "dabbing" used in connection with the print industry.

The myth, if indeed it is one, seems to have found its way into Google's Artificial Intelligence!