Category: Workplace

Printing workplaces

McWhan Printers

Linotype Model 48
Linotype Model 48.

After more than 70 years the family business, McWhan Printers, Scabrborough, UK closed down early in 2007. Specialising in posters and magazines, the business remained fully letterpress to the end. Ken McWhan used Metal Type Classifieds to try and find new homes for the equipment on these pages — many thanks to the people who were able to help him out.

Rusholm Printers, York, 1959

Rusholm Printers, 1959
ARTHUR KELLY, Terry Rowan, Tony Preston, Walter Pond, Bill Duffield and Don Robson pictured at Rusholme Printers, York, UK in 1959.

Thanks to Tony Preston for sending in this slightly out of focus (but worth including) photo of Rusholmes Printers.

Tony Preston, who sent in the photograph said: “I’m a native of York and served my time as a hand compositor at Rusholme Printers who were originally in Market Street before moving to High Ousegate in 1956 or 7. Read the Full Article . . .

Yorkshire Evening Press, Xmas Eve

Christmas visit
This picture, taken on Christmas Eve 1978, shows (from left to right): The Archbishop of York, Stuart Yarworth Blanch; York & County Press Production Manager Raymond Heppell and David Hughes, Apprentice Compositor.

There are six pages of Yorkshire Evening Press photos on Metal Type. Check the “Related Pages” menu to see the rest.

During my time at the Yorkshire Evening Press it was a tradition that the Archbishop of York visited the works every Christmas Eve to press a green button to start the presses rolling. Read the Full Article . . .

Harrison and Sons, 1950

Composing room, Harrison and Sons
Composing room, Harrison and Sons, Printing House Lane, Hayes, Middlesex. 1950.
From left: Neville Jackman, Joe Hillier, Bert Archer, Frank Farrant, Bert Edwards, Bill Cummins, Harold Harrison, Bill Morrisey, Charley Varnel, Bill Harries, Ernie Bray (aged 17), Cyril Cross, Vic Spall.
The job on the stones in the foreground is probably voters’ list.
Bill Cummins and Charley Varnel are working on record labels which we printed for EMI and Decca.
The tops of the two Linotypes can be seen at the back on the left.

Many thanks to Ernest Bray from London for sending in this photo and caption.

Burlington Press & Electrical Press

Mike Wilson
I’m on the Linotype in Burlington Press, Bridlington, a one-man operation (my Dad and my mother) until his death in 1978. I’m probably on holiday from Aylesbury, where I was department overseer on the Bucks Herald. I worked a brand new Intertype there, a model that came out before the days of the Elektrons etc. A ten-line-a-minute job with a blower etc. But I could still keep a line hanging. But despite the blower the mould got so hot that it would splash often, and the union man told me to slow down or everyone would have to work at my speed. They promised me an output bonus but it never materialised.

Mike Wilson also sent in these pictures of himself and his father.

Linotype fan? Don’t miss the Linotype Chat section of the Metal Type Forum. Read the Full Article . . .

Yorkshire Evening Press

Stonehands
Yorkshire Evening Press stonehands posing in front of a Ludlow, late 1970s. The guy leaning in from the left is John Bradley, the big guy to the right at the back is Bob Procter, next to him Derek Johnson, left of him John Langthorp (wearing the “hat”) and the man at the front in the grey jacket was Frank Smith.

There are six pages of Yorkshire Evening Press photos on Metal Type. Check the “Related Pages” menu to see the rest.

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 . . .