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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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