Yesterday’s Technology . . . Today!
Many thanks to Tony Bassano for sending in this picture of himself seated at the Intertype that he operated for 23 years.
Says Tony: “Here is a photograph of me circa 1976 setting type on the C4-1 Intertype machine I operated for Califorms Printing Company in San Jose, California for 23 years.
Vin Crosbie allowed these excellent photographs to be used on Metal Type.
Vin said: “These photographs detail the production of a 10,000-circulation daily newspaper in Connecticut on Friday, March 17, 1961. I found these slides among those of my father, the paper’s general manager. The Chronicle has been owned by my family since 1877. I’m the fifth generation and the sixth is already working there.
Chris Johnson contacted Metal Type in November 2007 saying that he was an engineer working for Express Gifts, part of Findel PLC and had been looking after 3 working Intertype Monarchs for the past 11 years. The company had recently acquired a refurbished Intertype C4 to bring the count of working linecasters up to 4! The machines are used to produce slugs of people’s names to manufacture personalised gift items.
The machines all have a Decitek Floppy Disk Drive operating a Fairchild Teletypesetting unit. Chris very kindly sent in the following photographs.
Alan Runfeldt runs a 1930s era print shop in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, USA. As well as traditional letterpress printing Alan rescues, restores and passes on old letterpress equipment such Kelsey Excelsior Platen Presses, Chandler & Price Platen Presses and Vandercook & Challenge Proof presses. He also collects, catalogs, uses and some times passes on fonts of hand-set foundry type and wood type as well as the cases and cabinets to keep them in.
I don’t think this press is in Alan’s collection, his website says the press is in Philadelphia. I had to include the picture, though, it’s got to be the oldest litho press I’ve seen.
Tom Bailey sent in this picture of Norman Barnes retiring from his job as “The Printer”, early 1970s.
Tom Bailey said: “To my mind the setting of type was an art form and having spent many hours setting five point type, visually letter-spacing said type for advertisements to be published in newspapers; actually cutting up cigarette papers and bus tickets to use in the spacing. Remember I was not the only one, I had to learn from somebody.
There are six pages of Yorkshire Evening Press photos on Metal Type. Check the “Related Pages” menu to see the rest.
In October 2007 the Yorkshire Evening Press, based in York in the UK, celebrated 125 years of production by delving into their archives and publishing a special souvenir supplement.
George Finn, an Australian Linotype mechanic, sent in this photograph and details of the restoration project.
This is the oldest machine I have ever worked on. Checking the serial number (22971) against shipping dates, I find that it was shipped in the first half of 1918.
Many thanks to Ian Cottom, from York, who sent in this photograph which he bought from the Gazette and Herald newspaper in 1946!
There are six pages of Yorkshire Evening Press photos on Metal Type. Check the “Related Pages” menu to see the rest.
Thanks to Don Hauser for allowing me to use this extract from his book “Printers of the Streets and Lanes of Melbourne” which he designed and typeset at his Nondescript Press. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for Don, the original limited edition print run of 1,000 copies entirely sold out and the book is no longer for sale.
W G Anderson was apprenticed to Brown and Prior. He later worked in New Zealand but returned in the early 1920s to work for them again.
Thanks to Don Hauser for allowing me to use this extract from his book “Printers of the Streets and Lanes of Melbourne” which he designed and typeset at his Nondescript Press. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for Don, the original limited edition print run of 1,000 copies entirely sold out and the book is no longer for sale.