Manuals and Reference Books for Typographers of the Late XIX – Early XX Centuries

In: Proceedings of SPSTL SB RAS, Heft 2, S. 38-44

Abstract

A brief description of publications for employees of printing houses is presented: reference books, calendars, which made it possible for typographers to learn the basic rules of typing, historical information on the printing business, as well as the addresses of printing houses in St. Petersburg. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of publications devoted to the printing business, from which information can be gleaned about ancient book-making technologies. In almost every publication, you can get bibliographic information about both printing manuals and small brochures intended for students. The authors shared their long experience of work in printing houses, thus helping the successors to avoid mistakes and perform works efficiently. Publications became necessary as reference and information materials, especially for owners of printing establishments, because from them it was possible to learn about factory legislation, insurance laws and customs tariff. After 1918, the governing bodies changed, so the directories contained information about the main state management bodies for the press and publishing houses of the Supreme Economic Council (Supreme Council of the National Economy) and for Petrograd, the structure of the Union of Workers of Printing Production, etc. There are no modern studies on the information support of the process of printing books in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The purpose of this article is to generalize information about reference literature aimed at typography workers of that period.