This new book presents the thesis Dr Cyril Cannon submitted in the early 1960s to the London School of Economics, studying the social conditions of compositors in London at that time; it has been extended with an epilogue, a revised bibliography and an index. As such it represents a valuable addition to published literature on how people were grouped and organised at work and how they positioned themselves socially based on their working conditions. It is also a useful addition to writing on print history, particularly as the subject is introduced with a historical review going back to the beginnings of letterpress printing in the middle ages. Unknowingly Dr Cannon was writing within twenty years of the end of a five hundred year old trade. The clues were all around, but those he interviewed remained largely oblivious (just as you might expect, in fact).

I was unable to work over the summer as I had a broken wrist so there was some irony in the fact that instead I sat in front of InDesign typesetting this 304-page book with the good hand! The design, which proved assured and suitably understated, was by students in the Typography Department at Reading and the type is Celeste. As the book has relatively few images we were able to use Festival Offset as the text stock which bolsters the finely chiselled characters of Celeste; I’m currently reading the excellent John Piper, Myfanwy Piper: lives in art by Frances Spalding (OUP, 2009) which has a much larger number of halftones and is printed in a Garamond-like face on thin silk stock, making the type hard to see if light reflects off the page. We’ve done better; the design and specification combine to make a very comfortable read (though I would imagine we spent a lot more per sheet on paper).

An enjoyable task in a good cause. And naturally you can order the book through St Bride Library’s online shop or buy it in the Library reading room!