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. Then followed four pages of the correct symbols for correcting proofs, and more pages on casting off for Monotype composition. Casting off enabled one to find how many lines would fit a certain page depth.

Sizes of cards were given as well as figures for the calculation of income tax. Facts about poster work, punctuation and foreign currency followed.

Imposition was explained at length and included section heads of Signatures, Gutters, Backs, Heads, Tails and Off-Cuts. Imposition was a skill I never mastered.

Book Founts

Near the end of the book there were pages of book founts from the Stephenson Blake and Caslon foundries: Old Style, Plantin, Bodoni, Modern No.17, Modern No.20, Caslon Old Face, Perpetua, Verona, Cheltenham, Baskerville, Bell, Bembo, Blado, Centaur, Ehrhardt, Fournier, Garamond, Gill, Goudy, Imprint, Lutetia, Poliphilus, Rockwell, Romulus, Scotch Roman, Times, Van Dijck and Walbaum. Some of these typefaces have all but disappeared, but to the man in the street they all look like this font (Baskerville).

The typeface Times Roman was designed to fit the narrow columns of newspapers, and is now a default font for newspapers and magazines. I prefer Antiqua as it is a little wider and I like my work to be a little different. Antiqua is a ‘serif’ typeface, while Arial is ‘non-serif.’ Serifs are the small finials to the letter. Serif fonts have characters which vary in width, while sans serif do not.

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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!

“The question of a “Boy” was why these pages had to be laid in such a complex order on the Stone.

This explains why, because the sheets needed to be folded in a specific way to relate to the chosen imposition Scheme and form a “signature”.

The book lays out what extent the Stonehand’s life was governed by an exceptional memory and dexterity of hand with his tied-up pages slid from the galley into position, chased and locked into the forme.

These days I doubt whether a Clicker, or Journeyman would have the time and interest to produce by hand an explanatory document on his own typewriter, for the good of a succession of Apprentices under his charge.

I think it was Ralph Wheatley who went on to be Composing Manager at Billings the massive book and bible printers in Guildford, who produced the explanatory chart originally.

Note the final sheets of 4 feet by 2 feet 6inches. Even larger were monsters for the 128-page backed up imposition “N”, often churned out from the pair of sliding beds on the large letterpress flatbeds that broke your back in half if you were unlucky enough to be lumbered with the “Machine Revise”, not to mention doing it over a forme recently scrubbed with trichoethylene!

At Billings letterpress machines were situated in an old building’s bottom floor. In the 1960s and 70s the same system existed when I was at Richard Clays Bungay, the great Machine hall there was over 100 yards long, and bore these roaring monsters both sides, floating off the delivery tapes and rollers massive sheets of black on white words.

Interspersed with their lesser brethren with 1 bed and only 16pp or 32pp to view and the smell, of ink strong on the air, such were the days of pride in our Craft, Trade and Industry!

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The site originally concentrated on the ingenious Linotype mechanical typesetting machine invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1884.

These machines were the mainstay of newspaper type production for almost a century and many have been preserved.

Linecasters still feature strongly on the site, but over the years the site has expanded to cover all aspects of printing trade nostalgia.

Unique Content

Much of the content is unique to this site, having being submitted by site users over the years.

There are pictures of workplaces and people, videos of machines working, pictures of rare and old machines, stories from the old days, poems, limericks, etc.

Use the site’s search box to find what interests you, or take a look at the geographical or trade Categories, there is a vast amount of material.

Instruction Manuals & Monotype Recorders

The Library has many hard-to-find instruction manuals as well as the internet’s largest collection of “Monotype Recorders” all fully searchable and available to download in PDF format.

Place a Free Ad

Visit the Free Ads page if you are looking for equipment, or have some to sell. Placing an advert is free, and easy.

Don’t forget to visit our carefully-selected eBay Listings (UK &US) for collectables, machines, mats, books, etc.

The Forum is the place to interact with other letterpress enthusiasts, and has some real experts in all sorts of areas, particularly present-day Monotype usage.

Letterpress Gift Ideas

The Store has letterpress-themed gift ideas and is able to fulfil orders worldwide.

Get in Touch . . .

If you would like to submit some material to the site, or contact me about anything else, please go to the Contact Page.

eBay Highlights

Metal Type brings you the pick of letterpress items offered for sale on eBay. We look out for Monotype, Linotype, Intertype and Ludlow items including machines, parts, matrices, tools, etc. Also presses, blocks (or cuts), type as well as publications, manuals, etc. Anything of value to the letterpress community (both US and UK).

Links: Clicking on the heading above the picture of the item will take you to a post on the Metal Type Forum where you can read the full seller’s description. Clicking on the picture or the link below the picture will take you to the item on eBay. Clicking the “Latest Highlights” button will take you to a list of items on the Metal Type Forum.

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