Comments on: At The Caslon Foundry In Chiswell St https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Sun, 22 Apr 2018 10:05:42 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Thomas Gravemaker https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204678 Sun, 22 Apr 2018 10:05:42 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204678 Thank you so much for these great photos! As Hugh already mentioned, the proper English word is ‘fount’, although nowadays ‘font’ is used, probably an American influence. The women and boys are thus ‘founting’… i.e. making packages containing the complete ‘founts’.

]]> By: TH Groves https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204556 Sat, 21 Apr 2018 12:24:29 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204556 Wonderful photos! So much fun seeing the historic antecedents to the work I still do today in our little type foundry here in Arizona. I recognized so many of the tasks being done.

]]> By: Hugh Macfarlane https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204356 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 07:11:49 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204356 The brass rule is for creating lines in printing, these rules are the same height as the type, the rule came in various thicknesses, these rules were in point sizes that we still use today, i.e. 72 points to an inch, so the more points the thicker the line, the reason brass was used is that it was more durable than lead rule.

]]> By: Christina Mitchell https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204287 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:14:55 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204287 Great photos! I believe the brass rules are composing rules used for setting type.

]]> By: Helen Breen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204143 Wed, 18 Apr 2018 14:44:50 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204143 Greetings from Boston,

GA, very interesting piece about Caslon’s Foundry. I enjoyed those pics of the offices – Sydney Caslon Smith’s that of Harold Arthur Caslon Smith sitting at his roll top desk. Interesting too to see so many women working at this trade. No doubt their manual dexterity and attention to detail was valued highly.

And to think that changing a font is as easy today as moving a mouse! The downside is that so many millions of workers have been displaced by our technology in recent years. This charming photo-essay proves the point…

]]> By: Lynne Perrella https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204132 Wed, 18 Apr 2018 10:34:12 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204132 Fascinating! I have been around the graphic arts long enough to wistfully recall a lot of now-arcane necessities. The inexact science of type-specing, getting several “repos” of typography since razor-cut “corrections” were inevitable, spraying the type with fixative, messengers coming and going for frantic deadlines, and more. Yes, that was back when dinosaurs walked the earth…..in
the Seventies.
For those of us who love typography, in all its fabulous variety, this posting reminds us of the
“behind the scenes” drama and toil that has to happen before a beautiful letter makes an imprint.
Just seeing the name “Caslon” made me sit up straight in my chair.
Wonderful photos!

]]> By: rosemary Hoffman https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204123 Wed, 18 Apr 2018 09:26:52 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204123 i remebr no 41 Chiswell street-Whitbreads Brewery where every Sunday night my dad would take his paerwork form the pub we lived in to the Brewery

]]> By: Chris Webb https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204122 Wed, 18 Apr 2018 09:16:17 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204122 These are fascinating, I could look at them for hours. Glimpses into the everyday lives of people at work from this era are extremely rare. It’s easy to forget that there was once a significant amount of light industry in central London, including the City.

The brass rules are presumably the ones screwed to tables and counters to measure cloth, obviously a sideline from the main business.

In the last photo you mention the factory cat. I went to the Docklands Museum a couple of weeks ago and on the label for the dead and mummified cat they say cats were allowed to run freely round warehouses to control rats and mice. Presumably this was the case in all industrial premises, possibly offices as well.

]]> By: Hugh Macfarlane https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204111 Wed, 18 Apr 2018 06:49:16 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204111 It is interesting that you use the word ‘Font’ rather than the earlier spelling ‘Fount’ which would have been used in Caslon’s time.
Also in the casting shop the girls were employed for breaking off the tangs or jets if the type, they rubbed off any flashing on the sides on a stone and then put the type onto a dressing stick, this was then taken and clamped into a dressing table, where the break at the bottom of the type is planed off, thus leaving a small nick in the bottom of the type.

]]> By: Jan Toms https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/04/18/at-the-caslon-foundry-in-chiswell-st/#comment-1204107 Wed, 18 Apr 2018 05:57:05 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=165612#comment-1204107 A priceless visit to a fascinating business. Am forwarding to a friend who works for Granta books. I know that she will enjoy it.

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