Op Shop find - any printers out there ?

[gromit]

Picked up a book at an Op Shop the other day 'Printers of the Street & Lanes of Melbourne (1837 - 1975)'

Looks like an interesting read and tucked inside there was a gentleman's Indenture papers from 1949 (trade - Letterpress Printing) and a reference letter when he left their employment some 8 years later. A nice bit of social history, I just need to figure out what to do with them.
Wages were £1 12s 9d per week for the 1st year rising to £6 13s per week in the 6th year.

Turns out the book was a limited run of 100 but I guess it has a very narrow market.

Colin

[RANDLOVER]

The printer's family might like the papers, but could be hard to track down.

[Homestar]

I’d take it to a second hand book shop like Grub Street Books in Fitzroy and see if they have any ideas.

[p38arover]

(trade - Letterpress Printing)

There's a printing museum here in Penrith.

The Penrith Museum of Printing (https://www.printingmuseum.org.au/)


Our Purpose
The purpose of the Penrith Museum of Printing is to collect, conserve, operate and showcase letterpress printing machinery and equipment so as to keep alive the history, knowledge and skills of letterpress printing for present and future generations.

It might interest them

[gromit]

I’d take it to a second hand book shop like Grub Street Books in Fitzroy and see if they have any ideas.

The book is on Ebay at $85 and specialist bookshops at over $100.

I really need to find a home for the indenture paperwork & reference, I guess the gentleman involved may have passed, hence the book ended up in an Op Shop.

Colin

[Chops]

You’ll just have to try and look him up Colin.
You could do this through either police or hospital records if you don’t have success with the printing firm itself. The Commerce dept of the area should be able to tell you more about the business to help track the individual down, but if that doesn’t work, then the cops and robbers dept.
It could end up taking a bit, but the family might like the papers/info.

[3toes]

Family history people use census records which may be of use to you also

[Bigbjorn]

Long time ago I was in a share house with a Linotype & Monotype Operator. He told me he served a 6 year/12,000 hour apprenticeship and needed a good pass in Year 12 English to be apprenticed. I was stunned at what he was being paid in a Darlinghurst small print shop. His base rate was nearly double that of a tradesman fitter & turner. His goal was to get employment on a newspaper and move up to the piecework galley setting the classified ads and make "real good money". Fifteen years later his trade had almost disappeared off the face of the earth. Hot metal was replaced by computerised typesetting. The classifieds were input direct to the production computers by unskilled labour taking the ads direct over the 'phone.