Welcome to the National Print Museum

About AD 105, China’s T’sai Lun developed paper made from the shredded bark of the mulberry tree. Later, the Chinese invented a method of printing using characters and pictures carved on wooden blocks. These raised images were then inked and transferred to the paper.

Block printing arrived in Europe in the early 1400s. A major development came around 1439 when a German goldsmith, Johannes Gutenberg (circa 1400), began using separate pieces of raised metal type. He also invented the matrix or mould used for the mass production of this type. Gutenberg made his printing press by adapting a machine used to press grapes. He assembled his pieces of type, and tightened them in a metal frame called a chase. He then inked the type and placed paper on top of it. Next, by turning the large screw, he brought down a wooden block that pressed the paper onto the inked type.

This screw type hand press made mass production possible – it could print about 300 copies a day. By 1456, the Gutenberg Bible was completed. Most scholars believe this was the very first book printed from movable type in Europe. Printed in red and black, it had a print-run of 180 copies with 162 pages (135 copies on paper and about 45 on vellum). Each column had 42 lines of type, so it was also called the 42-line Bible.

By 1500, there were more than 1,000 printing houses in Europe and several million books had been produced. Casting, using movable type, and printing on the hand press was a slow and tedious process. But this method of printing books and newspapers – known as letterpress – did not change for more than three centuries.

A sudden series of inventions and developments revolutionised the printing industry in the first half of the 19th century. These were: lithography; a machine that made paper in continuous rolls; the first all-iron press; the first machine for ruling paper for copybooks and ledgers; and a steam-powered cylinder press that could print 1,100 sheets per hour. Treadle platens also came into vogue in the 1830s and ’40s. They were powered by a foot pedal and used for ‘jobbing’ work like billheads, cards, leaflets and letterheads. In the 1860s, in America, a rotary press that could print 8,000 sheets per hour was invented and a method of printing from a continuous roll of paper – known as the high-speed web-fed rotary press – was devised.

Until the 1880s, all type was set by hand, just as Gutenberg had done 400 years earlier. But in 1884, a German living in America, Ottmar Mergenthaler, patented his Linotype. This machine could cast a full line of type in one piece of metal. Three years later, Tolbert Lanston (USA) invented the Monotype, which cast separate pieces of type. Both the Linotype and the Monotype made typesetting much quicker and more efficient.

All of these print processes, with 20th-century advancements and improvements, continued into the 1980s when they were overtaken by modern computer technology. The National Print Museum is pleased to exhibit a representative display of some of the equipment and artefacts of this rich centuries-old heritage.

Kelly’s Directory, London

There are five main printing processes:

Relief – printing from a raised surface, as letterpress

Planographic – printing from a flat surface, as lithography

Intaglio – the image is cut or sunk in the plate (the opposite of relief)

Screen – a silk, nylon or metal screen contains the image to be printed

Digital – no plate is required, and the image is applied by inkjet, as on a home or office computer

Relief ProcessLetterpress and flexographic printing use the relief process – the surface of the printing plate, block or type has a raised image area. Both processes are quite simple, as they only need the image area to be inked and the paper pressed down to get a print. Letterpress is still used today as a specialist process for things such as gold foil blocking or embossing. Flexographic printing was developed in 1890 in Liverpool by Bibby, Baron and Sons. It is used for flexible packaging like bread-wrappers and plastic sacks, as well as in making cartons. Flexography uses rubber printing plates with a liquid ink. Letterpress and lithography use a paste ink.

Planographic ProcessPlanographic means printing from a flat surface that contains both the image area (text and pictures) and the blank or non-image area. Although there are many variations of this process, lithography is the most common. It is based on the fact that grease (ink) and water (aqueous solution) do not mix.

In lithography, an additional cylinder with a rubber blanket is used for a transfer or indirect impression. When the cylinder with the plate is rotated, the water solution and the ink are transferred to the flat image. The print image repels the water solution and accepts the ink. And the non-image area accepts the water solution and repels the ink. The operating sequence is plate-to-blanket-to-paper.

Intaglio ProcessIntaglio (pronounced in-TAL-yo) comes from the Italian in tagliare, meaning ‘cut into’. The image area is cut, or sunk, into the surface of the plate. It is the opposite of relief, which uses a raised surface. As the plate cylinder rotates, ink covers the plate and seeps into the recesses (the cuts) in the image. The surface of the plate is then wiped clean with a doctor blade. The ink remaining in the recesses is then transferred to the paper. This process is used for high-quality packaging, some glossy magazines, and for printing high-security products like postage stamps and money. Sometimes called gravure printing, modern gravure cylinders are engraved with lasers.

Screen ProcessThis process uses a perforated stencil that is supported by a mesh. The perforated image lets ink pass through the openings and onto the paper or other materials. Ink is forced through the mesh by drawing a squeegee across the suspended image. It uses a downward pressure to ensure a clean contact with the material on which the image is printed. This process was first developed during the Song Dynasty in China (960-1279). It has many modern-day uses like point-of-sale material, fabrics (t-shirts), wallpaper, plastics, metal and glass.

Digital ProcessThis method was introduced by Chester Carlson in 1938. It is called Xerography. Many commercial printing developments have taken place in digital printing since the 1990s. Digital printing eliminates the need for a printing plate, as the image is applied directly to the paper. Ink application technologies vary from toner-based (‘dry’ ink, either very fine powder or where the image is attracted by electrostatic forces) to inkjet to dye-stimulation. Your own home printer uses a digital process. It is also used in very large-format devices that can print on a range of materials, from papers to plastics, metals and glass.

Jonathon Jones On Art Blog, The Guardian, 2010

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Words printed on paper give our written language the vision of colour, tone, size, shape, form and weight. Print is like the singing voice of the written word. This voice invites us to engage our senses in the act of reading and looking. It adds vibrancy and variation to the meaning of what we read and see.

Printed artefacts capture the spirit of the age in which they were created. Through them, we connect not only with the content but also with the materials used, and with the evocative evidence of passing time and human interaction – thumbprints, dog-ears, notes, creases or coffee stains.

In their visual style and interpretation, printed books provide evidence of the social and historical context in which they were created. First editions give us a moving sense of authenticity – a feeling of being somehow closer to the writer and the point of origination.

In this digital age, printed artefacts remain essential to our lives. Spend a week noting every printed item and object that you encounter or use. Then imagine what the world would be like without them. What a dull world it would be. The printed word continues to be one of the most essential and beautiful aspects in the landscape of human imagination.

An apprentice is a young person who learns a craft or trade by working with a skilled master or employer for a set period of time. An apprenticeship usually lasted for seven years. In return for the work he did – and it was usually a boy, not a girl – the apprentice was entitled to full instruction in the skills of the trade. At the end of the apprenticeship, the trainee became a journeyman.

The apprenticeship system grew out of the craft guilds of the Middle Ages. In 1551, more than a century after the invention of printing, the printing craft arrived in Ireland. The customs and regulations governing apprenticeships in Britain and Europe were much the same for Irish apprentices.

In the early days of printing, presses were set up in the chapels attached to abbeys. One of the most famous was set up by William Caxton in Westminster Abbey in 1477. The assembly of journeymen was called a chapel – they decided points of common interest. Each journeyman printer became a member of the chapel. The chairman of the assembly was called the father of the chapel.

In the early 1800s, printers formed groups called Amicable or Benevolent Societies – these later became trade unions. The old terms, chapel and father of the chapel, are still used today in the printing industry and newspaper journalism.

From the 1800s into the mid-20th century, a set number of apprenticeships were always reserved for printers’ sons. Many of them married female workers, and this led to the growth of print families or dynasties within the print, publishing and bindery trades.

The Proclamation of the Irish Republic was read aloud by Patrick Pearse on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, outside Dublin’s General Post Office, the recently seized headquarters of the insurgents. This remarkable document proclaims independence, justifies rebellion, and offers a vision of Ireland where freedom and opportunity are the rights of all Irish citizens. It has influenced Irish people around the world ever since. The National Print Museum is proud to have one of the few surviving originals.

The Proclamation is also intriguing from a printing perspective. It was type-set and printed in secrecy on an old Wharfedale stop-cylinder press like the one on display in the Museum. As sometimes happened in small printing offices in Dublin, its printers were short of type. Once they had begun their work, it became clear that they would not have enough to set the entire document.

So these resourceful men – Michael Molloy, Liam O’Brien and Christopher Brady – decided to print the document in two halves. Once the top half was finished, they reused their type and set the text for the bottom half. They then locked up this forme and returned it to the bed of the machine. Next, they reinserted the half-printed sheets into the press. A clue to their technique can be seen in some copies of the Proclamation, as one half is more heavily inked than the other.

The men used two-line Great Primer (pronounced primmer) type, which was often used for this sort of poster work. Certain letters, especially ‘e’ (the most commonly used in the alphabet), were in short supply, so they had to use a different font. (Look at ‘three hundred years’ in the third paragraph.) There are other curiosities too. Some of the letters are in very poor condition – look at the damaged ‘R’ in ‘IRISH REPUBLIC’. This has a ‘fatter’ slanted leg because it was made from sealing wax that was added to the letter ‘P’. Other characters were also treated with sealing wax to turn them into different letters! Find the ‘E’ in ‘TO THE’ in the fifth line – it is actually an ‘F’ with an additional foot, made from sealing wax and joined on to make the ‘E’. The last letter in ‘REPUBLIC’ at the end of the fourth line is also suspicious. It looks like a ‘C’ – but is it really an ‘O’? Finally, can you spot the upside-down ‘e’ in the first line of the last paragraph?

Working in such difficult circumstances meant it was late on Easter Sunday night before the three printers finished. It is believed they printed about a thousand copies – perhaps only 30 are known today. When the Rising began, Proclamations were posted around the city on walls and pillars, but most did not survive the fires that destroyed the centre of Dublin during the fighting. The few documents that do survive, although creased and worn, bear witness not only to an extraordinary week in Ireland’s history but also to the ingenuity of Irish printers and the influence of the printed word.

Some typefaces are so popular that they have been around for over 500 years. For example, a typeface called Bembo first appeared in 1495 and is still in use today.

Our alphabet – 26 letters from A to Z – has been in existence for over 2,000 years. There are also many other characters, including capital letters, small capitals, lowercase letters, accented characters, punctuation (commas, full stops, colons, quotation marks), mathematical symbols and numerals. All are needed to communicate in the written or printed word. These letters and characters, put together, are called a font of type. Each font also has variants within its family – semi-bold, bold, light and italic. Different size fonts are measured in units called points (pt).

The word typeface is used to describe a font that has been designed consistently to look a certain way. Typefaces fall into different categories. Some have a serif – a stroke or line projecting from the main lines of the letter. Some are sans serif – sans means ‘without’, so these letters have no extra strokes. They can be described as old face, transitional, modern, slab, Egyptian or grotesque. Script, gothic and uncial typefaces are other varieties of letter shape.

People who design the shape of letters are called typeface designers or font developers. Typefaces first appeared as three-dimensional metal letters created by craftsmen called punch cutters in the 1450s in Germany. Using photography, the process became two-dimensional in the 1960s. They are now produced digitally on-screen. Different technologies (metal, photography and digital), combined with the design of printing presses (wooden, metal, lithographic or digital), have influenced the design of typefaces. As technologies change, so does typeface design.

Today, there are many thousands of typefaces, and new ones are still being created. If you look at each face carefully, you will see different characteristics. Typefaces are designed to look plain, functional, serious, traditional, elegant, dignified, funny, adventurous or downright crazy. How you respond to the typeface often influences your response to what you are reading. For example, LOUD or loud.

Some typefaces are designed to work very well in a large size to be read from a distance. Others are more legible in a small size to be read close up. Text messages, emails, websites, printed books, leaflets and posters all appear in typefaces that have been designed to be sympathetic to each of these media.

BemboABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

In 1571, two decades after the introduction of printing to Ireland, the first irish* typeface was used to produce Aibidil Gaoidheilge agus Caiticiosma, an Irish-language catechism. It was printed at the house of John Usher near what is now Lower Bridge Street in Dublin.

It was made from existing roman type, an italic a, and some newly cast irish characters. It is referred to as the Queen Elizabeth I type in recognition of her sponsorship.

A number of irish fonts were soon produced to meet the publishing needs of the Irish Franciscans, in exile in Louvain and Rome. These designs were based on the handwriting styles of the early monastic scribes.

Designs like these became popular and set the standard for other irish styles that followed. The Moxon foundry in London produced one of these in 1680. The punches for this typeface are the oldest remaining for any type known to have been produced in England.

Around 1835, the Dublin artist and antiquarian, George Petrie, designed a typeface for John O’Donovan’s edition of The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. This was first irish typeface based on the round half-uncial manuscript style. It was the first to have the appearance of a well-designed typeface.

In 1858, Petrie designed a font for the Catholic University of Ireland at the request of its founder, John Henry (later Cardinal) Newman. This font became the forerunner of the many modern typefaces that were used until the 1960s when the irish character was replaced by roman type for printing Irish-language texts.

* When referring to an irish type style, the use of the lowercase ‘i’ in irish is accurate.

Title page of Aibidil Gaoidheilge agus Caiticiosma, Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

Once the book has been printed, it is sent to the finishing department, or bindery. Today, the finishing work is done on computerised machines – and most of the books we read are paperbacks. In the past, however, the finishing was done by hand. Books were usually hard covered (or case bound).

First, the printed sheets were folded into sections that were multiples of 4… 8, 16, 32 and upward. (Fold a piece of paper in half, then in half again. This will show you how this works.)

Next, the sections – or signatures – were gathered by hand and thread-sewn together. The gathering had to be done very carefully so that the signatures were in the correct order. Women were involved in the folding and sewing areas.

The sewn books were then sent to the bindery where end papers were attached to the first and last sections. The end papers could be works of art themselves, especially for expensive books. A design called marbling was often used. Very expensive books might be edged in gold leaf. Some would have decorative headbands and ribbons.

A machine called a guillotine was used to make even, smooth page edges. Once the spine was glued and hinged, it was ready for casing. When the glue was dry, the jackets or dust covers were put on. The books were then inspected before being dispatched to the booksellers.

Finishing department at Kelly’s Directory, London

Paper was first made in China around AD 105. Centuries later, when some Chinese papermakers were captured in battle by the Moors, they were encouraged to continue their art and teach it to their captors. A paper industry was established at Baghdad, Iraq, in AD 795. As a result of the Crusades and the Moorish conquests of North Africa, Sicily and Spain, the art of papermaking had spread to Europe in the late 1100s. By 1400, paper was being made in several countries of Western Europe. Ireland’s first known paper mill dates from the 1590s. It was located in Straffan, Co. Kildare.

Because chemical bleaches were unknown at the time, paper was made by pounding wet white rags into fibres. Skilled workers made the paper by hand, using the ancient Chinese method. The sheets – which must have looked something like blotting paper – were hung up to dry and then coated with animal glue. This coating was called sizing, which meant the paper was ready to be used for writing and printing.

In 1750, a machine was invented in France that reduced the time needed to pound the rags to fibre. From then on, like other industries affected by increased mechanisation, papermaking went through a period of rapid improvement and change. The next breakthrough also came in France with Nicholas Louis Robert’s invention of a machine to make paper in continuous rolls.

In 1803, two wealthy London stationers, the Fourdrinier brothers, installed Robert’s machine in their factory in Hertfordshire, England. They not only gave their name to the machine but also financed improvements to it. The Fourdrinier name is still very much a part of today’s paper industry.

In the 1960s in Ireland, seven mills were producing paper and board: Clondalkin Paper Mills; Drimnagh Paper Mills; Killen Paper Mills; Larne Papers Mills; National Board and Paper Mills; Smurfit Paper Mills; and Swiftbrook Paper Mills. They made a wide range of products, including printing and writing papers, hygienic and packaging papers, and packaging board.

Sadly, these mills were forced to close over the period 1970-2006 due to the changes in printing and packaging requirements. First, costly upgrades would have been needed to bring these mills into the 21st century. Also, the paper and board requirements were now so diverse that there was no future in Irish paper manufacturing.

In the year 2000, Ireland was importing approximately 550,000 metric tonnes of paper and board. This covered a wide range of papers, with no single one large enough to sustain an Irish mill.

As a backlash against industrialisation in the 1880s, a small group of British philosophers, artists, poets and writers taught themselves to produce items by hand, including books. This Arts & Crafts Movement grew in popularity, eventually becoming a worldwide phenomenon. From the 1900s onwards, it coincided in Ireland with the Irish Literary Revival. This was the resurgence of Irish poetry, theatre, literature and art, all of which combined as a kind of reaction to the mix of poverty and drabness in Irish life.

As part of this resurgence, private printing presses (as distinct from commercial presses) were set up. These small presses had a special interest in artistic endeavour and craftsmanship in all aspects of the book – from the typeface to the use of words, illustrations, choice of paper and layout. Their main motivation was the love of the craft, not profits. They often looked to the past for inspiration and were influenced by fine European book work from the 1650s through to 1800.

Typical subjects for small private presses included versions of the Bible, poetry, short stories, plays and children’s fables. Commercial publishers might produce 3,000 copies of a book. But a private press – even today – might issue only 150 copies.

There were many reasons to start a private press. Some people were interested in the craft of making books, while others wished to print and illustrate material that was considered commercially unsuitable. And some did it simply for the fun of it.

To start a private press, all one needs is a font of type, a small printing press, text, paper, ink – and lots of energy and enthusiasm! Many private presses began as hobbies in the family kitchen or sittingroom. Two of the most famous Irish private presses were the Yeats sisters’ Dun Emer Press, 1902 (later called the Cuala Press) and Liam Miller’s Dolmen Press, 1951. Many other private presses developed in Ireland, Britain, Europe and America, especially in places with a strong literary tradition, where writers and artists became central to the private press movement.

Yeats sisters’ Dun Emer Press (later known as the Cuala Press), Courtesy of The Board of Trinity College Dublin

Today, new inventions like iPhones are launched immediately. But Ireland was slow to adopt the new technology of printing. Nearly a century after its invention, the very first publication printed in Ireland was the Book of Common Prayer. It was produced in Dublin in 1551 by Humphrey Powell. A London printer, he came to Dublin that year as the King’s Printer. Based in Dublin Castle, Powell was responsible for printing all official State documents.

During the 17th century, the majority of Irish books (mostly religious publications) had to be printed in England or on the continent. But with the Georgian era of the 18th century, the arts of printing and bookbinding gained a reputation for quality that rivalled anything in Europe. Many printing firms sprang up in Dublin, with notable family names like Ewing, Powell and Grierson. George Faulkner, printer to Jonathan Swift and proprietor of the Dublin Journal, was the supreme example of the printer/bookseller. Lord Chesterfield called him the ‘Prince of Dublin Printers’.

In the 19th century, many commercial and book-printing houses were founded in central Dublin. By 1900, there were nearly 60 master printing firms in the capital. Regional cities too – Belfast, Cork, Galway and Limerick – established profitable printing companies. With the coming of national independence and the formation of the Irish Free State, commercial printers still held sway.

Once the Irish economy started to modernise in the 1960s, many of these book-printing firms merged. Old traditional companies such as Brindley and Dollard united. Alex Thom, Browne & Nolan and Hely’s became part of the Smurfit Group. At this time, the industry switched from letterpress to lithographic printing. In more recent times, digital printing has taken over, with an emphasis on full colour.

Ireland’s print industry has survived many waves of change, and few of the great names are still in business today. Since the 1980s and 1990s, new firms have opened, continuing that long tradition of excellence in Irish printing.

People browsing at bookstall, Cumberland Street Market, Dublin, 1969, Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

Ireland’s first newspaper appeared in 1649. It was published by Cromwell’s army of invasion and called the Irish Monthly Mercury. It was mostly an account of Cromwell’s recent victories, and there were only two editions.

The first Dublin newspapers began to appear at the close of the 1600s, but it was not until the 18th century that newspapers began to flourish in the main Irish cities. Until the 19th century, newspapers were produced manually. Each single character – a letter or mark of punctuation – had to be set from the case, formed into lines and assembled into columns. The printing, or press work, was done on hand presses such as the Columbian press on display in the Museum.

The newspaper read by the Ascendancy, or ruling class, The Irish Times, was first published in 1859. It was printed on a flatbed press that could only manage 5,000 sheets per hour, printed on one side only. Many rival nationalist and ‘patriotic’ newspapers were launched round the same time. The Museum exhibits two machines from this era – a Linotype that casts a full line of type in one piece, and a Ludlow, used for setting newspaper headlines. In a lifelong career in the newspaper industry, one compositor (typesetter) could easily set over 100 million words. During this time, all compositors and other workers in newspaper production were male. Women have been involved in production work since the 1980s, although many worked in journalism before this.

The late 19th century saw many advances in newspaper printing, making it much faster and more automated. One important change came in 1905, when the Irish Independent was launched. Using high-speed presses, it was the first Irish newspaper to make extensive use of photographs. At the same time, journalists started using a new invention – the typewriter. Before this, all newspaper copy (news stories, editorial matter, reports, features) had to be hand-written.

A dramatic change in newspaper production came in 1962 when a newspaper company in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, became the first in Ireland to install a web offset press, followed by a firm in Bray, Co. Wicklow, a year later. Web offset gives much better picture reproduction than the old rotary letterpress. It is also much faster, and hastened the development of full-colour printing. Other far-reaching developments include the introduction of photocomposition and direct input from journalists’ computers.

One side effect of this new technology is that today, only a small number of regional newspapers and a few national newspapers do their own printing. Since the 1980s, the art of newspaper printing has changed completely.

Independent Newspapers, 1935, Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

...at the National Print Museum

The National Print Museum collects, documents, preserves, exhibits, interprets and makes accessible the material evidence of printing craft and fosters associated skills of craft in Ireland. In so doing we host a wide range of exciting and interactive activities and events.

Guided ToursAllow one of our tour guides to bring you on a journey of discovery through the history of printing. From individuals to groups, we offer interactive tours to suit all interests and educational levels.

WorkshopsFeeling creative? Why not sign up to some of our workshops and release your inner talent.

LecturesLearn something new. Our lecture series is fortunate to attract eminent speakers on a variety of subjects.

ExhibitionsImmerse yourself in our temporary exhibition space where there is always something new to enjoy.

Family EventsFrom special tours and family days to birthday parties, there are lots of hands-on activities for all the family to enjoy at the Museum.

EventsThe atmospheric surroundings of the Museum provide a unique setting for corporate events and private functions.

Demonstration DaysWatch as retired printers and typesetters bring the Museum to life with practical demonstrations and tales of working in the industry during our special demonstration days.

OutreachThe Education team endeavour to bring the essence of the Museum into the heart of the community through outreach workshops and information sessions, encouraging everyone to engage with the Museum’s collection.

The National Print Musuem is supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

The Museum houses a Shop, Library and the Gutenberg Café.

ContactNational Print MuseumBeggars Bush BarracksHaddington RoadDublin 4

www.nationalprintmuseum.ie+353 (0)1 660 [email protected]

Designed by Language, www.language.ie

Printed by Character Ltd, +353 1 257 2256

Printed on Amber Graphic 170gsm from Arctic Paper Amber Graphic stocked and supplied to the Irish market by TQ Paper

Printing

Museum Entrance, Toilets, Coffeeshop, AV Area, Reception & Shop.

Typesetting Finishing

A Museum EntranceB Reception & ShopC 1st floor – Temporary

Exhibitions & EducationD AV AreaE ToiletsF Coffeeshop1 Cases of Type2 Furniture Rack3 Ludlow Cases4 Stone5 Adanas6 Farley Proofing Press7 Vandercook Proofing Press8 Linotype9 Ludlow10 Hell Box11 Monotype D Keyboard12 Monotype Caster13 Wooden Press14 Columbian Press15 Albion Press16 Peerless Platen Press17 Addressograph Press18 Wharfedale Press19 Proclamation20 Heidsieck21 Titan Glockner22 Heidelberg23 Shaw Pen Ruling Machine24 Sunday Press25 Guillotine26 Perforating Machine27 Punching Machine28 Hot Foil Block Press29 Round Cornering Machine30 Book Press31 Book Binding Sewing Frames32 Bookbinders’ Banner

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