Past events
2010 Annual General Meeting
The 2010 Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday 27 April 2010 at 5.30pm at the St Bride Foundation, London. Elections were held for the following officers:
Hon. Chairman: Dr John Hinks
Hon. Treasurer: Mr Andrew Dolinski
Hon. Secretary: Mr Francis Cave
Hon. Membership Secretary: Dr Catherine Armstrong
Hon. Journal Editor: Mr John Trevitt (who retired by rotation and was willing to stand again)
The election of these five officers was proposed by Richard Lawrence and seconded by Michael Twyman, and was welcomed by the meeting.
The following members of the committee retired by rotation in 2010 and are willing to stand for a further term: Ken Brooks, Richard Lawrence, Paul W. Nash, James Mosley and Peggy Smith.
After the meeting Dr John Hinks spoke on 'Printing: a Revolutionary History'.
Other past events
Annual General Meeting, 2009
The 2009 Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 12 March 2009 at 5.30pm at St Bride Foundation, London. The Meeting was followed by a talk by Dr Cristina Dondi on The two earliest illustrated books of Hours: Verona: Boninus de Boninis 1481 and Venice: Georgius Arrivabene and Paganinus de Paganinis, 1 Apr.1485.
Alan May's One-pull press demonstration
Tuesday 6 May 2008, 18.30 - 20.00
The British Library Conference Centre
THE MACHINE THAT MADE US: GUTENBERG'S BRILLIANT INVENTION
Johann Gutenberg's printing press, which brought about the dawn of mass communication is of barely equalled significance in the development of human culture. His achievement reached its pinnacle with the printing of the Gutenberg Bible in 1455.
A new documentary 'The Machine That Made Us', presented by Stephen Fry, was screened on BBC4 in Spring 2008, and excerpts were featured in this event. For the programme, and in order to unravel mysteries of Gutenberg's technique, a team of experts built a unique copy of his press: watched it action at the event, alongside discussion of the remarkable story behind its invention.
Speakers included Alan May (printing expert and press builder), Martin Andrews (University of Reading) and Patrick McGrady (Wavelength Films)
Annual General Meeting, 2008
The 2008 Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday 22 April 2008 at 5.00 at the St Bride Library.
Hot Metal to Hot Keys: Fifty years of turmoil 1950-1999
PHS Conference, 22 & 23 April 2008, St Bride Library, London
The conference specifically addressed the overwhelming changes in the British printing industry during the second half of the twentieth century. Day one featured the changes brought about by flexography, gravure and print on demand, and the roles of 20th-century apprenticeships. Day two continued the theme of changes in technology but featured a ‘film festival’ of fascinating and informative archival films bringing the past alive.
List of speakers on Day 1, and their papers:
Rob Clayton, Significant extracts from the award entries of the Donald Milham Awards
Anthony White, Against the tide: the replacement of letterpress by
flexo at the Daily Mail in the 1990s
R. O. Bradley, John Crosfield C.B.E., D.Sc., M.A., his company’s contribution to the advances in printing technology
Brian Reynolds, Commentary to film ‘Inside Sun Printers Ltd 1938’
Bernard Catterall, At the sharp end
Peter Milham, Apprenticeships were special
Antony White, Print on Demand? Can it be that easy?
Rob Banham introduced the second day’s programme and talked about his research on films showing some clips. Viewing of Pen-ruling: a vanishing craft, 1985 (15mins).
Mick Stocks talked about his experiences of the CRTronic typesetting system – discussing advantages and disadvantages, the mystical coding used and the problems of specification and design.
Martin Andrews outlined the evolution of ‘strike-on’ composition, and the dominance of Letraset from the 1960s to 1980s. He explored the impact of these mediums on low-budget production and the democratization of typesetting.
Ann Pillar explored how type manufacturers produced publicity for
changing technology.
Printing on film: The creation of a printing type from the design to the print by Fredrick W. Goudy, c. 1935 (11 mins). Spot News, 1937 (9 mins); the sending of photographic images by telephone for printing as half-tones. Learning to set type, 1959 (10 mins).
Printing on film: Farewell etaoin shrdlu: an age-old printing process gives way to modern technology, 1978 (29 mins). The last day of linotype hot metal composition at the New York Times.
Printing on film: The art and technique of photo-engraving, c. 1950 (29
mins). From hot metal to cold type, c. 1955 (25 mins). Looking at litho, c. 1955 (23 mins).
Annual General Meeting, 2007
The 2007 Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday 27 March 2007 at 5.00 at the St Bride Library. At 5.30 Tony Edwards, Professor of Textual Studies at DeMonfort University, spoke on 'Directions in the study of English incunables'.
3&4 July 2006: Jobbing printing; the stuff of life
In 2006, the PHS and The Ephemera Society joined forces for a two-day conference at The University of Reading on the theme of the jobbing printer and his work. There was a reception the evening of 2 July, and on the 3rd a day of papers. On Tuesday the 4th the conference moved to the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, which houses the Centre for Ephemera Studies, for short talks, demonstrations and the opportunity to explore the Maurice Rickards Collection of ephemera. The University Library's John Lewis Collection of ephemera was also featured.
Speakers on Monday 3 July included James Mosley, Rob Banham on lottery printing, Barry McKay on chapbooks, Patrick Frazer on George Madeley, Mary Ann Bolger on Catholic memorial cards, Patricia Thomas on ephemera's role in 19th-century emigration, Graham Hudson on the Printers' International Specimen Exchange, and Paul Shaw on W.A. Dwiggins. On Tuesday, somewhat less formal talks were given by Michael Twyman, Johan de Zoete, Claire Bolton, Maurice Collins and Sebastian Carter.
At the AGM for 2006, John Tuck, Head of British Collections at the British Library, gave an illustrated lecture, 'From ephemera to icon: enhancing access to the British Library'.
On March 10th 2005, Robert Faber of Oxford University Press gave an illustrated lecture, 'The Oxford DNB and scholarly publishing 1882–2004', following the Society's AGM.
The 2004 PHS Conference
Conference 2004: Printing and the worlds of learning
5 and 6 January 2004, at Downing College Cambridge
The Printing Historical Society, in association with the Cambridge Bibliographical Society and the Textbook Colloquium, held its 2004 Conference. In addition to the papers delivered, participants had opportunities to visit the famous Wren Library at Trinity College Cambridge, the recently built Quinlan Terry Library at Downing College, the Rampant Lions Press, and at Cambridge University Library, Stanley Morison's Library and the 'bibliographical' press.
The conference theme related printing and printing history to education and learning. Printing has contributed to learning at all levels and to the educational sector since its inception in a wide variety of ways. This conference considered the past, present and future of these relationships.
Printing and universities: university printers, university presses and printing houses, university censorship of printing, printing history as an academic study, university libraries and printing history, bibliographical presses for training academics
Printing and schools: printing and literacy, printing and textbooks, school presses, training the printer
Printing and learning beyond academia: non-university printing museums and libraries; private and fine presses; printing and self-help; printing as rehabilitation.
The list of speakers and their papers:
Paul Hoftijzer, Jobbing printing in Leiden during the seventeenth-century
Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Defining place: textbooks and identity in Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities
Judy Ivy, Sir Frank Short: prints and printmaking beyond the classroom
Lucy Lewis, Page design and commentary formats in early printed books
Paul Luna, Type for lexicography
Lisa Maruca, 18th-century technologies of learning: the how-to manual and print
Henry Notaker, Printer or cook? The role of the printer in early modern cookbook publishing
Martyn Ould, Stanley Morison & Oxford University Press
Robert Ritter, The Clarendon Press and the origins of Oxford house style
Nicola Robson, Design for children's reading: the style and influence of the Isotype Institute
Jan Roegiers, The first Leuven University Press (1759–1797)
Fred Schurink, Printing for the grammar schools in Elizabethan and Jacobean England
Chris Stray, Paper wraps stone: the beginnings of educational lithography
Patricia Ann Thomas, Printer to/for/at the University
Daniel Wakelin, The first printed classics, the schoolroom and the vernacular
Sue Walker, The tales the letters tell: typography in children's readers 1830–1960