In the days of the metal press, powered by the labours of men, a printer would keep his lead typesetting letters in a series of wooden trays, laid down vertically on his workbench. The small letters were kept in the lower case and the capital letters in the upper case.
In the days of the metal press, powered by the labours of men, a printer would keep his lead typesetting letters in a series of wooden trays, laid down vertically on his workbench. The small letters were kept in the lower case and the capital letters in the upper case.
From here originates the expression upper and lower case to describe capital and small letters. This and more you would learn if you visited the Eastern Star on Anglo African Street.
Operated by the National English Literary Museum (Nelm), the Eastern Star Museum is filled with the history of print and publishing in South Africa.
Of particular interest, the museum features a fascinating collection of printing presses from as early as 1836, as well as extensive collections of lead type and other tools of the 1800s printing trade.
Around this time, printers were monstrously heavy devices. Richard Burmeister, manager of the Nelm bookshop and de facto curator of the Eastern Star for the last 16 years, explains that one “portable” press that the museum had installed required the floor to be reinforced beneath it with solid concrete to cope with the weight.
Larger still, is a giant Wharfedale press from Selby, England, which takes centre stage. A similar behemoth of a press was transported from Grahamstown to Johannesburg via Kimberly on rail and wagon in 1887 in only two weeks.
These stories, and more, Burmeister shares in enthusiastic detail as he guides you between the presses. He’s holding an ink roller made of maize meal, honey and molasses.
“We used to do three to four tours a week,” he recalls, explaining that a lack of advertising in recent years has meant fewer and fewer visits at what was once a popular stop for schools and tour groups.
Burmeister concedes that, “the museum is too low profile” and that “it needs a lot of work.” Plans are in place to reinvigorate the premises by February next year to attract more frequent tours and increased casual visitors.
With a little polish, a raft of new visitors may yet be introduced to the mysteries of quoins, frames, metal furniture, printers devils and the mighty Wharfedale. The Eastern Star seems set to shine once more.
