Yesterday’s Technology . . . Today!
Historical items
Many thanks to Chris Greenhill for sending in his grandfather’s collection of British Print Trade Union membership cards.
His grandfather Joseph Henry Davis was born in 1884 and entered the print industry at the age of 14. You can read more about his career in London and view his indenture document here: 1898 Indentures.… Read the rest
Many thanks to Chris Greenhill for sending in details of his grandfather’s long career in the print industry, along with his Indenture document, which was signed in 1898.
Chris says: “I gleaned the following from my grandfather’s last surviving daughter, my aunt.… Read the rest
Many thanks to Mike Wilson for sending in this picture of a poster that he bought in 1976.
It seems to have been very well produced and Mike tells me it is in excellent condition.
Many Thanks to Mike Wilson, from Yorkshire in the UK, for sending in this story.
This 104-page booklet was full of tables and facts for the printing trade.
Following a diary, there were tables for working out night rate payments, starting from £6 10s 6d (£6.51) per week.… Read the rest
Metal Type is proud to offer this superb 1950s retro clipart.
The zip file contains three versions of the same artwork in True Type Font (.ttf) Open Type Font (.otf) and Scaleable Vector Graphics (.svg) formats.
There’s also a text file telling the story of Cobb Shinn.… Read the rest
Rubén Brizuela, who runs a letterpress print shop in Mendoza, Argentina is the proud owner of this Model 1 Linotype, which is in full working condition.
He would like to see the machine taking pride of place in a museum somewhere, but nobody seems interested.… Read the rest
Many thanks to Mike Topper for sending in these pictures he took at the Christophe Plantin Museum in Antwerp.
From the late Dave Bowles’ collection of London Fleet Street compositors items comes this great collection of trade union membership cards from 1946 right through to the 1990s.
This page was updated in 2023 with additional cards from the collection of Joseph Henry Davis.… Read the rest
Single-letter machine. The Model 1 Machine was later improved and built for double-letter matrices.
(This machine produced type faces up to 11-point and type bodies up to 12-point, in all measures up to 30 pica ems.)
This model is no longer built.… Read the rest
It would appear to be one of the Whittaker company’s early photosetters.
Steve Robertshaw, Ex Whittaker & Compugraphic UK Engineer, updated this page with the following:
The Machine refered to in the Whittaker collection is in fact a Universal 2.
You will note on the nameplate next the name Universal II TG (Total Graphics) this makes it one of the last Universal 2 manufactured.… Read the rest