Boozy Allegations

George Finn’s amusing account of a Canadian Linotype training course, in Toronto, in 1958.

IN 1958 I was working for Canadian Linotype in Toronto as a service engineer. Although none of the larger newspapers, due mainly to union restraints, were installing, or converting linecaster to teletype operation the Thompson chain and some smaller independent newspapers welcomed the technology. Read the Full Article . . .

The Glass Door

John Bull printing set
From age ten I remember messing about with my John Bull Printing Outfit and a cocktail of glycerine, gelatine, builders’ glue, methylated spirits and violet hectograph ink, the basics of a primitive spirit duplicator as prescribed in Hobbies Illustrated circa 1949.

Don Hauser’s fascinating story of a lifetime in the print industry.

Taken from Don Hauser’s book “Printers of the Streets and Lanes of Melbourne” this is the story of Don’s lifetime career in print from 1949 to the present day. Read the Full Article . . .

Wayzgoose – The Event of the Year

Linotype Operator

Many thanks to Graeme How for sending in this article, which appeared in the Centennial Edition of the “Weekly News” on November 27, 1963 – the last edition of the magazine appeared in 1971.

HE was one of the last of the old tramp compositors-cum-linotype operators-cum printers. Once upon a time they were a numerous tribe; today they are as outdated as movable type in newspaper headings. Read the Full Article . . .

The Matrix Engineer

How a Linotype matrix is made from Merchant of Alphabets by Reginald Orcutt.

FAR MORE than the layman may find it easy to appreciate, every good type letter is fraught with human spirit. Whether its essence stems from the Humanists of the Renaissance, or comes from the artistic expression of to-morrow morning, its beauty and clarity – and thus its legibility and function – stem from the genius and personality of the artist who designed it and the craftsman who brought it into being. Read the Full Article . . .