Foundry/Plates Archives

German Museums

1 - A Brehmer book stitching machine — 1 – A Brehmer book stitching machine

Thanks to Teo Pelho, from Finland, for sending in these pictures, taken at the Deutsches Museum, Munich and the Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, Germany.

I have very little information about the pictures, so if you think you can “flesh out” any of the captions, please post your suggestions here. Please refer to the pictures by number. Read the Full Article . . .

Stempel Type Foundry

Thanks to Thomas Gravemaker for sending in these photographs that he took on a visit to the Stempel Type Foundry, Darmstadt, Germany.

Thomas said: “The photographs were taken on my visit to the Stempel Foundry in Darmstadt, Germany. They’re housed in the Haus fur Industriekultur, where they have a fantastic working museum, presses, type, A complete range of Linotypes (from the earliest ones to the latest versions) and some Monotype material as well. Read the Full Article . . .

Northcliffe House, 1980s

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.” Read the Full Article . . .

Daily Mirror Foundry, 1980s

General view of the foundry with (L-R): Brian Chalker, John Wakefield (chargehand) and Bob Teasel.

Many thanks to Ken Flemington for getting in touch with the site and sending these photographs in. Some pictures include Ken’s son!

American Machines

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.” Read the Full Article . . .

News of the World Foundry, 1986

Steroplate — Barry Adams and Brian Inwood operate a Linotype and Machinery auto at the News of the World.

Thanks to Barry Adams for sending in these pictures of the last-ever hot-metal production run of the News of the World – the UK’s biggest circulation Sunday newspaper.

In Barry’s own words: “There was a crew of 4 for the Auto and a further 3 for the Auto shaver. Read the Full Article . . .

Welcome to Metal Type

METAL TYPE is the place for printers, typesetters and newspaper workers, who fondly remember those letterpress days, to come and reminisce.

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