The date is Sunday, July 2, 1978, the last time that the New York Times was printed using hot metal.
David Loeb Weiss, then a proofreader and Carl Schlesinger a Linotype operator filmed and narrated this film to record the occasion.
Category: Trade Category
Brighton Argus (UK) 1990 – video
Don’t miss Brighton Argus 1973
We start with a look at the county of Sussex, which the newspaper serves.
Brighton Argus (UK) 1973 – video
Don’t miss Brighton Argus 1990
The film starts with a look at Brighton sea front and other towns in the Brighton Argus circulation area, accompanied by the obligatory cheesy music recorded on a very stretchy tape.
The “Wapping Cough”
This story is taken from Fleet Street journalist Roy Greenslade’s book “Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda.”
It tells the story of Rupert Murdoch’s move to Wapping through the eyes of a journalist who made the move.
Last Hot Metal London Evening Standard
Roy Brachet, a Linotype operator on the paper for 25 years, took these pictures on the day of the last hot metal edition of the London Evening Standard.
Linotype Model 1 Video
Rubén Brizuela, who runs a letterpress print shop in Mendoza, Argentina is the proud owner of this Model 1 Linotype, which is in full working condition.
He would like to see the machine taking pride of place in a museum somewhere, but nobody seems interested.
Christophe Plantin Print Shop
Many thanks to Mike Topper for sending in these pictures he took at the Christophe Plantin Museum in Antwerp.
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.
Automated Typesetting, 1971
Many thanks to George Finn for sending in this video from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Says George: “The video was extracted from a video tape I was given when I retired in 1989. It was used to give visitors an overview of newspaper production prior to taking a tour of the plant. Sorry the quality is not the best.