My Granddad

So, Ladybird tells me that her beau, the printer, has seen this blog [welcome]. We all met Andy over the holidays, my dad, the son of a printer, included. My dad was thrilled to be able to "talk shop" with Andy since he had managed the press during my grandfather's illness and after his death.

My grandfather was a "Compositor" - an excellent one - according to dad he won competitions in Britain back in the day. He loved the details and was quick to point out errors. [I can't imagine that job - having to put teensy letter and punctuation cubes in trays, backwards, for pages and pages at a time.] Anyway, sometimes I used to think I was channeling him when I would do html code in the "old days."

My granddad worked at and then ran the Westminster Press. They printed books, of course, but also posters for the London Underground, and for movies at the Academy Cinema in London. Dad and Andy talked about these posters, and some of the books my dad still has that were made by my granddad's press. I love them!

Granddad was also somewhat of a firebrand, the story goes. Apparently, for a time, he preached on a soapbox in one of the London market squares about how Jesus was a Socialist. I like to think I'm taking up the mantle, in a way....