Cataloguing the Ainsworth Printing Collection
In February and March 2023 we were fortunate to work with a student on the MSc in the History of Science course at the University of Manchester’s Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM). During his 20 day placement, Connor Ferry worked on a significant, but uncatalogued, collection of books and ephemera published for and about the printing industry.
Connor writes:
I was able to complete this placement as a part of my MSc in History of Science at the University of Manchester. Having always been keen to work in a collections environment, when this opportunity presented itself to me, I was enthusiastic to take it on.
The history of the printing industry in the UK dates back to William Caxton, who is thought to have been the first person to import a printing press into the country in 1492. Interestingly, some of the companies whose materials are now held in the collection claimed to be able to trace their professional heritage all the way back to Caxton himself, including large family-tree like illustrations as part of their introductory pages.
As for the history of this collection itself, the answers were somewhat more difficult to find. With very few exceptions, each and every object had inscribed somewhere within it the words “Presented by Mr Ainsworth”, as well as an accession number, hence the name: the “Ainsworth” printing collection. However, clues as to who this Mr Ainsworth may have been were unfortunately hard to come by. There is only a very brief reference in the University Library’s accession register, which doesn’t even include his forename.
The majority of the books appeared to come from a printers based in Manchester, named “Wm. Neill & Sons”, as many of them either had these words inscribed or stamped somewhere in them. Therefore, it is currently my assumption that Mr Ainsworth, whoever he may have been, worked for this company, as well as a number of others, over the course of his career, and slowly but surely amassed the collection as it stands today. This would also serve to explain the somewhat more esoteric items that seem to be more personal than business related.
The collection consists largely of two main types of document: firstly, journals periodicals written by and for fellow printers concerning such matters as the latest innovations in the industry as well as other important news and events that may be relevant to the readers. In particular, a number of the editions published during the two world wars discussed how rationing and conscription were forecast to affect the industry. Reading first-hand, current accounts of the effect that the world wars had on an industry not typically associated with the front lines of the war effort was fascinating, and really helped to shed light on different people’s thoughts and opinions on the war, as well as where their priorities lay.
After these, the majority of the objects in the collection consisted of advertising and sample books from various printing stamp production companies, primarily based in around Manchester, but some coming from as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah. These books would be sent out to various printers around the country, in an effort to show off the latest fonts (or “founts” as they were originally known), as well as pre-cut illustrations, special characters, page ornaments and border effects.
The condition of the books was as varied as the contents. As part of my cataloguing, as well as recording bibliographic information (author, publisher, etc), I gave each item a “conservation status” rating from 0 to 3, 0 being “requires no conservation work” and 3 being “currently falling apart to the touch”, or “already in pieces”. The most common problem that less-well-in-tact objects had was weaknesses in the joining of the cover to the rest of the book.
Many of the books had at some point in their lives had (in some cases, a great deal of) miscellaneous papers, documents, and cards inserted between the cover and the front paper. These objects were not removed, instead they were recorded in the catalogue record in the “Copy Specific Notes” field. This ephemeral material was frequently completely unrelated to the object they had been placed in, but occasionally were of almost more interest than the object themselves. The collected 1907 editions of The Federation of Master Printers and Allied Trades of the United Kingdom’s monthly Members’ Circular contained a printed letter from the author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, who had written in to the journal to voice her opinions about the differences between the British and American publishing and copyright laws. This was absolutely not something I expected to find whilst cataloguing a collection of materials concerning the printing industry, and it was discoveries like this that made me excited to continue on through.
One of the strangest inserts was found between two pages of a handwritten business ledger, recording accounts and invoices over a period of years, and apparently indexed at the front by customer. Inserted between pages 103–104, there was a sheet of paper with two photographs, as shown below:
I couldn’t make any sense of what exactly was going on in either of the pictures, and concluded it had to have been some kind of early 20th century meme.
The rest of the collection consisted of an incredibly wide range of types of material, ranging from proofs of posters, presumably commissioned from a specific company, to what appeared to be a personal collection of newspaper clippings dating from August 1914, documenting the very beginnings of the First World War. The clippings are almost entirely from the Manchester Guardian.
Being able to get hands-on experience, and the necessary training involved, with book handling was an incredibly rewarding experience, and has confirmed for me that this is an industry I am very keen to find a career in. I am also glad to have been able to meaningfully contribute to the Special Collections at the John Rylands Library, as now, hopefully, others will be able to access the content of the material I have catalogued.
With thanks to Steven Hartshorne and Aya Van Renterghem for making the placement experience so enjoyable.
