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National Amateur Press Association
Monthly Bundle Sample, Campane 194, p.5

had 537 machines, its own paper mill, mechanics' shops, chemists' laboratories and joiners' shops, [italics mine] and the firm used Miller & Richard's type "almost entirely."

The Printers' Register began the serialization of John Southward's "Practical Printing" in 1874 and the two installments of Chapter IV on type cases appeared in the November and December 1875 issues. Southward repeats the 1872 improvement in the half case with the identical lay diagram and describes it as having been "adopted by Messrs. McCorquodale." He also describes and illustrates an improved double case with only five rows of boxes in the upper case division. Southward states, "...the uppercase division consists of five rows of boxes instead of seven; more space is thus allowed for the capitals—fractions and accented letters being excluded," and it too was "...used by Messrs. McCorquodale & Co."

Considering Miller & Richard's dominant position in the British type founding industry, McCorquodale's heavy use of M&R's types and Southward's continuing deep interest in all aspects of the British typographical scene it is reasonable to assume that there was a considerable on-going communication among the three. McCorquodale's improvement in the half case and double case must have occurred at least a couple of years before being reported by Southward in the Printers' Register, possibly as early as 1870, and it is not unreasonable to assume that M&R soon learned of the McCorquodale innovation very soon after it was adopted—after all, much of the type going into McCorquodale's cases was made by M&R. So when Miller & Richard began their negotiations with

 

    Last updated: 01/15/2000