From the Contact form:
I am a graphic designer and teacher based in Brooklyn. I am writing a book on the history of the printed ballot in 19th century america and would be interested in speaking to someone about print production history as it relates to the artifacts. I published a brief article in The New Yorker that has a sample of the ballots. —Alicia Cheng
From the Contact form:
I have a Philadelphia school dictionary from 1805 by Benjamin Johnson and I’m trying to find out more about the printers Dickinson & Heartt. Any information on the printers or this book would be greatly appreciated
Steve Saxe in his pressroom at his home in White Plains, NY June 14, 2014 (Paul Moxon)
We are sad to report that Stephen O. Saxe, one of the APHA founders, longtime APHA newsletter editor, and printing historian, died April 27. An obituary is forthcoming.
From the Contact form:
I am a librarian at Penn State assisting one of our faculty who is searching for studies that analyze book cover art in relation to a writer’s literary production and/or the content of a specific book or anthology. [Read more]
From the Contact form:
In the first days of offset printing (1878?), how was the original made from which the copies were produced?
Bryan Kravitz
APHA welcomes research papers, panels, roundtables, or workshops covering diversity in the history of American printing. APHA’s 2019 conference, One Press, Many Hands, intends to shed light on the rich history of printing and publishing in America from diverse groups. Generations of past scholars in the field have devoted their research to studies rooted in Eurocentric and Anglo-American histories of printing. However, as the United States becomes increasingly diverse communities of scholarship have sought to engage with issues that have arisen from the transformation in our national demographic makeup. [Read more]
Left: Sample cover for a Bible, which would have been carried by a book agent to give customers a sense of their options when purchasing a bespoke Bible. (Zinman Collection of Canvassing Books at the University of Pennsylvania) Right: An idealized engraving of the work of the Bible Society in disseminating scripture, by Asher Brown Durand (1796–1886). (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Printing History 25, produced by the team of Brooke Palmieri, editor; Michael Russem, publication designer; and Katherine Ruffin, Vice-President for Publications, is being mailed to APHA members this week. [Read more]
Thomas Bewick, “Cameleopard” block from A General History of Quadrupeds, eighth edition, 1824. (Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)
From the Contact form:
I’ve noticed that quite a few mass-market paperbacks, generally printed in the 1950s-’80s, have dyed page-edges, e.g. red, blue, yellow, and maybe green coloration. Do you know what chemicals were used in these dyes, and whether any of them are toxic and present a handling issue?
Thanks,
Jeremiah Goertz
Via the Contact form:
I found this group photo that includes my grandfather (front row, second from the right). I know that he worked for a printer in New York in the 1920s and 30s. They have a sign in front of them that is too washed out to read except for the word “Ball” and a graphic, possibly a union bug. Was there a Ball Printing Company in NYC in the 1920s? —Sarah Bringmann