Identification help needed (my dads old stuff)

[Alchopone]

Hi all
Signed up for this specific question so hope someone can help.

My father passed away just before christmas and i have been sorting a lot of stuff. He apprenticed in the printing trade and went on to work for the Times and then the Daily Mirror.

A number of years ago he showed me this box of typesetting characters that he had made. He said that all of the guys in print made their own boxes (spares mainly) and carried them round all day for when odd characters were needed, and i just thought it was brilliant. I have found the box which has brought back great memories.

What i am hoping someone knows is what it was called. My dad told me the name that all print guys called it (was an odd name i recall) but for the life of me i cannot remember what the name was, and would love to know.

Hope you can help.
Thanks

[Dave Hughes]

Hi @Alchopone and welcome to the Forum.

Is there any chance you could post a photo of this box and its contents? It may help.

I worked as a typesetter on newspapers and never encountered the "personal box" that you describe.

However, I worked on provincial newspapers and your dad worked on Fleet Street. There is a big difference!

Whereas I was always paid by the hour, Fleet Street ran on "piece work" - payment calculated by the amount of type you had set.

I would imagine this box contains some brass Linotype matrices. They are probably for quite obscure characters like a percentage sign: % or asterix * etc.

I'm guessing that someone paid by results wouldn't want to waste time looking for the matrix that could produce these characters, so would "acquire" their own set, for personal use.

Those are my thoughts, but I may be wrong. A picture of the box and contents may shed more light on the matter.

[Alchopone]

Hi Dave
Many thanks for the reply and yes i believe you are spot on with your assumption, the box is full of special characters.

I did try to add a picture, but it said the size was too large, so i reduced the file size, but the error message then told me that was too large, and the max size had reduced, so i went smaller again, and again the error message reduced my max size available to smaller than my pic... think it was playing a game with me.. haha..

Maybe i was doing it wrong. I do have a picture, just cant seem to attach it

[Alchopone]

Not sure if this will work for the photo?

[Dave Hughes]

Hi Alchopone - The picture isn't quite what I was expecting. It is foundry type and not the Linotype matrices that I thought it would be.

Foundry type was seldom used in the production of national newspapers. Do you think your dad may have worked in the "general trade" before getting a job on Fleet Street?

Some of the stuff may have been used in the "Display advertising" section of a newspaper, but I doubt it.

Did you know it would be quite easy to take a print from the type? If there is a letterpress printers near you with a flat bed proof press they could ink it up and produce a print, or several, as a memento of your dad.

If you are feeling more ambitious, and practical, you could make it feature in a coffee table like this one that a site user has made: Letterpress Coffee Table

Back to the main point of your question, did your dad call it a "fudge box?"

[Ken Burnley]

We called them a 'sorts box'.

[Alchopone]

Hi Alchopone - The picture isn't quite what I was expecting. It is foundry type and not the Linotype matrices that I thought it would be.

Foundry type was seldom used in the production of national newspapers. Do you think your dad may have worked in the "general trade" before getting a job on Fleet Street?

Some of the stuff may have been used in the "Display advertising" section of a newspaper, but I doubt it.

Did you know it would be quite easy to take a print from the type? If there is a letterpress printers near you with a flat bed proof press they could ink it up and produce a print, or several, as a memento of your dad.

If you are feeling more ambitious, and practical, you could make it feature in a coffee table like this one that a site user has made: Letterpress Coffee Table

Back to the main point of your question, did your dad call it a "fudge box?"

Thanks Dave.

Fudge box does sound familiar, but not sure if that was the one, or my brain playing tricks on me. My dad did his apprenticeship with a company called McCorquodale and company ltd (i actually found the appenticeship indenture that was drawn up), so perhaps it was there that he used it.

Love the idea of getting a print from it. I used to do that with the single strips that his colleagues made up with my name on, when he took me into work as a little boy. Will have a look around for a printers.

Thanks for all your thoughts on this. greatly appreciated

Mark