Comments on: At The Caslon Letter Foundry

By: David Green

David Green — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 15:00:58 +0000

Ah, the death of type and proper typesetting; never do you see properly kerned letter pairs any longer; rivers of white space and widows and orphans abound. What drives me utterly berserk is seeing two hyphens at the end of two consecutive rows. Folks who do that need their ears boxed.

As someone who’s been in the printing industry for 25 years as well as having done a lot of industrial documentary photography, these photos are golden!

By: Mike Kay

Mike Kay — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 21:41:51 +0000

Wonderful stuff. Am I the only old printer who can’t quite stand fount spelled without the “u”?

By: Geoff Moor

Geoff Moor — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 11:49:12 +0000

Pauline Taylor – you may care to check out David Bolton, of Alembic Press in Oxford, web page of type case lays. Fascinating to see just how many variations there are. http://www.alembicpress.co.uk/Alembicprs/SELCASE.HTM

By: Derek Bailey

Derek Bailey — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 20:20:37 +0000

And here for all these years in my Font Styles on my PC I had wondered who was Caslon and now I know …. thanks.

By: Pauline Taylor

Pauline Taylor — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 17:47:09 +0000

Does anyone, David perhaps, remember the lay of the case? Somewhere I still have my copy (printed on paper) and we had to learn that off by heart so that we could set the type with our eyes shut ~~~ well almost.
I was interested to read about the Caslon family using Whitecross Street as that is where my grandfather was born so maybe he would have recognized them. And someone else mentioning the smell of the ink and the rattle of the presses, it was wonderful, nothing like it !!

By: paul loften

paul loften — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 17:20:01 +0000

Where have all the workers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the workers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the workers gone?
Gone to print outs every one
Oh, when will you ever learn?
Oh, when will you ever learn?

By: Gibson Square

Gibson Square — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 16:02:10 +0000

As an apprenticed compositor in the early 1960s, a regular errand would send me to Stevenson Blake Typefounders in Aldersgate Street, just around the corner from Chiswell Street. Our company still used an Albion Press featured on your picture of Caslon’s printing Room. Not sure of the picture of printers’ supplies including type cases, forme trolleys and electro cabinets, we used wooden type cases and pushed heavy forme trolleys around the factory, but I’ve not heard of an electro cabinet.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 15:37:16 +0000

Some dames may ask for furs and jewels, but I long for a F. P. Rosback perforator!
I saw a 100-year-old version of it in an amazing print shop/education center in Cleveland Ohio
(The Morgan Art of Papermaking & Educational Foundation) and was smitten.

Thank you for this amazing post. The smell of the ink! The rattle of the presses! The clattering key strokes! The continuous expanse of wooden type drawers! PAPER in all its glory! Wow.

By: Frank Rizzo

Frank Rizzo — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 15:12:57 +0000

Terrific pics. Loved the info about the Caslon family, too. I worked for a financial printer for years and saw the business change dramatically, from a time when we had an actual print shop in the building and would perform “Photoshopping” with physical materials and a can of Spray Mount; to everything being digital. Your article spoke to the font nerd in me. Thanks for sharing!

By: David Antscherl

David Antscherl — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 12:59:34 +0000

Like Pauline, I cut my teeth in graphic design on letterpress machines. The packaged type ready for delivery made me smile. It was like Christmas; opening the package and seeing the bright, shiny new type ready for distribution!

Thank you for some good memories. And Caslon is still a very handsome face.