Many thanks to Mike Topper for sending in these pictures he took at the Christophe Plantin Museum in Antwerp.
Christophe Plantin Print Shop
Category: UK/Europe
Austrian Type Height
Many thanks to George Hamilton from Vienna, Austria for sending in this story.
I WAS in Bad Ischl (Austria) a week ago, sought out an antiquarian bookstore for anything on printing and was told by the prop that there was nothing, but on the way out I looked down and under a stack of stuff there was a case of what appeared to be wood type.
British Print Trade Union Cards 1946-1993
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.
Book Impositions
Dave Gladwell, who spent his printing days in large book publishing houses, sheds some light on large impsosition schemes, and more.
Said Dave: “Given to me when Composing apprentice at Billings of Guildford when I moved on to the “Stones” for tuition, now coming on to 60 years ago!
High-Speed Russian
Many thanks to Pete Roberts for sending in this amusing anecdote from his days at the Cambridge University Press.
WAY BACK in 1969 I was a young Monotype keyboard operator at Cambridge University Press. Keen to ‘get on’, I volunteered to study Russian at night class (unpaid) with a view to typesetting Russian at work.
Cunard Passenger Lists
Ken Blasbery sent this story in after reading an interesting Titanic discussion on the Metal Type forum.
Says Ken: “I have written this piece in answer to forum discussions about the stationery aboard the Titanic, which was produced in the Thermographic Process by the Liverpool Printing and Stationery Company, so many years before I joined as a Comp.
Monotype High Jinx
Many thanks to Pete Roberts for sending in this story.
Metal Type does not encourage anyone to copy the described activities on their own Monotype Caster!
Composing Chapel Rule Book, 1958
From the late Dave Bowles’ collection of London Fleet Street compositors items comes this rule book.
These items were usually produced “in-house” set on a linecaster and produced on a proofing press.
The Bragging ‘Stab-hand
From the late Dave Bowles’ collection of London Fleet Street compositors items comes this song. Sent in by his son John, the song refers to production of the Sunday Telegraph.
Sung to the tune of “I Did It My Way.”
The Gutenberg Boys
Ian Boyter recently contacted me to tell me about a book he had written about his days as an apprentice at a book printers in Edinburgh in the 1960s. The publication is only available as an ebook.
An excerpt is reproduced below, it is written in a Scottish dialect (try to imagine Billy Connolly or Sean Connery after a few beers!).