Interesting book on the history of the printing craft

Subject: Interesting book on the history of the printing craft
From: Dick Margulis <margulis -at- fiam -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 13:38:55 -0500


This is only tangential to tech writing, but I thought it might be of interest to some folks here.

I received an early Christmas present of a book (bought used from bn.com) published in 1992 by University of Illinois Press, _The Lost World of the Craft Printer,_ by Maggie Holtzberg-Call.

It is a sociological study (more accurately a folklore study) with a decidedly academic bent. I suspect it was a thesis, in fact; at least it is written like one. The author interviewed a number of mostly retired printers, with "printers" restricted to the labor terminology meaning of compositors. Some had done hand setting, but most were lifelong Linotype operators.

She delves into some of the more arcane vocabulary of the printing house: Do you know what a "chapel" is? "Dressing" type? A "shoemaker"? A "deadbank"? A "waygoose"? "Jeffing"? Are you familiar with the name Moxon?

I'm halfway through the book and so far have found two minor errors (editing errors, really) but no egregiously false notes.

This is a good read for anyone interested in the history of the craft and the culture of the craftspeople. It is not a book about the history of type, of fonts, or of design. It is not a biography of famous type designers. And it touches only lightly on the technicalities of typography. There are better books if those are your areas of interest. But I'm glad to add it to my bookshelf. If you run across a copy, pick it up and read it.



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