Yesterday’s Technology . . . Today!
I recently paid a visit to the Bradford Industrial Museum in Yorkshire, here in the UK.
If anyone is planning a trip there, I recommend that you go on a Wednesday when museum volunteers Jimmy Young, Donald Stott and Michael Booth are on hand to demonstrate the equipment and answer any questions you may have.
Many thanks to Dave Gladwell for sending in these pics, which commemorate Norwich and District Graphical Society amalgamating with the National Graphical Association.
Says Dave: “When I was the Branch Secretary of the Norwich & District NGA Branch we used to have an NGA Branch magazine as the page explains.
In it one month of 1989 we included the subs record kept by Arthur Steele when this member wrote in.
John Bowles sent in these pictures, and photographs, of his father Dave Bowles – Former Sunday Telegraph compositor and Father of the Chapel.
When Dave Bowles left the Sunday Telegraph on March 23, 1986 he was presented with a framed plate of a Sunday Telegraph front page with the lead story taken out and replaced with a tribute to Dave headlined: “The Godfather Contracts Out.”
Many thanks to John Bowles for taking a trip up to his attic to get these photos for inclusion on Metal Type.
Says John: “It wasn’t the Front Page, the important pages were being done paper paste up by then.
About three years ago Steve Ballard posted in the Metal Type forum asking if anyone remembered his father Stan Ballard, a letterpress comp who unfortunately died in 1988.
John Bowles recently got in touch, and even took a trip up to his attic to find this photograph of Stan.
Many thanks to Dan Williams for sending in this article taken from a 1971 edition of the American publication “Graphical Arts Monthly.” It explores how viable a small letterpress print shop was in the early 1970s.
IS LETTERPRESS dead for the small printer? Edgecombe Printer in Kalamazoo, Mich, is a good example of a shop that is making a profit with letterpress in competition with offset.
Many thanks to Derek Cross for sending in this photograph and story.
The Argus Press was situated off Fleet Street in Tudor Street. It printed a number of magazines and newspapers, including the Observer.
Another batch of pictures, sent in by Ken Flemington. Says Ken: “They were taken at Northcliffe House, home of the Daily Mail, where we were printing the Sunday People. They were taken in June 1986 and I am in one of the photos. I will also include one of me using a Polymer platemaking machine which replaced hot metal at Holborn for the short period before closure in 1988.
“I hope the readers enjoy these photos as much as I enjoy the other photos of printers and printing on your excellent site. Sadly this is all I have.”
Many thanks to Ken Flemington for getting in touch with the site and sending these photographs in. Some pictures include Ken’s son!
Ken says: “The Woods were American machines which were only used as a last resort as they were extremely unreliable and difficult to fix when little things went wrong.”
The photographs on these pages are taken from the Monroe County Library Collection.