There were a variety of jobs in the pre-digital printing industry, meaning works like the Thanet Press employed large numbers, and needed specialist suppliers so supported small printers, bookbinders, and other trades locally. The key jobs, as a compositor laying out type, proof reading pages, or working with the machines, were highly skilled. A printer's … Continue reading Print Works Part 4: Working In The Print Industry
Print Works Part 3: The Martell Press
Two Thanet schoolboys had already caught the addictive whiff of printer's ink, oil, and paper that you find in any pre-digital printworks, from their father Norman, co-founder of publishers The Graham Cumming Group and owner of printer Westwood Press. Norman Martell printed town maps for councils, and diaries for clubs and societies, selling advertising in … Continue reading Print Works Part 3: The Martell Press
Print Works Part 2: The Thanet Press
In 1887 Frederick J Bobby, who had been running a small store in Bedford, moved to Margate and took over the Smeeds store, on the junction of Margate High Street and Cecil Square. With business booming, over the next few years Bobby's acquired neighbouring premises to expand the business. In 1907, he bought a nearby … Continue reading Print Works Part 2: The Thanet Press
Print Works Part 1: Forgotten Industry on the Isle of Thanet
Each town on the Isle of Thanet is distinct. Ramsgate has its Royal Harbour, and is still an active port for pleasure craft, and the rugged boats that service the offshore windfarms north of Margate. Broadstairs is the quintessential seaside town, a curve of beach at the break in the chalk cliffs, with the town … Continue reading Print Works Part 1: Forgotten Industry on the Isle of Thanet
Gregory Brown
We are very excited to reveal our latest donation to the Thanet Press archive. These two wonderful mini posters by the renowned designer Gregory Brown. These small versions of the original posters were created in 1933 for a publication 'The Technique of the Poster' which included an essay by Brown. Frederick Gregory Brown (1887 - … Continue reading Gregory Brown
The History Of Printing in Union Crescent, Margate: Part 1
The story of The Thanet Press starts not in Union Crescent, but at 4 Queen Street, the home of Margate stationery store Robinson & Co. A door away from Robinson's was a drapery business, Smeed's - on the corner of High Street and Queen Street. The business had been established in 1869. In 1887 Frederick … Continue reading The History Of Printing in Union Crescent, Margate: Part 1
A-Z of the Thanet Print Industry
At one time the Isle of Thanet had numerous print works. For the past 3 years we have been mapping them to see just how many there were. So far we have over 60 names dating from the late 19th Century to the present day. Do you know of any others? Do please get in … Continue reading A-Z of the Thanet Print Industry
