The First Decade 1957–1967
In January 1968, a booklet documenting the first decade of the Society was distributed to members. We reproduce it in full here – as scans of the publication, and below those, the full text.
THE Wynkyn de Worde Society was founded in 1956 on the initiative of a group of members of all branches of the printing and allied industries and the graphic arts, to bring together designers and producers on whose combined efforts the quality of printed matter depends, and to provide a forum for the regular interchange of ideas and information on the creation and production of print.
1957-1959
Preliminary meetings in Dr Johnson's house off Fleet Street in London were sponsored by Arthur J Heighway, then publisher and proprietor of Printing News. His experience as a New Zealand journalist coming to England had impressed on him the necessity for international co-operation and understanding in this field, and his intention was that the Society should seek association with, and provide a welcome in this country for, fellow-practitioners of the printing and allied trades from overseas.
The first officers and Committee were appointed, and the Constitution of the Society approved, at a meeting on 12 September 1957 held in the newly-restored Court Room of Stationers' Hall, when it was decided that the Society should take its name from Wynkyn de Worde, Father of Fleet Street. Forty-nine individuals attended this inaugural meeting under the presidency of Arthur J. Heighway. In addition, eight others who paid entrance fees comprised a total of fifty-seven founder members, with James Shand as first chairman, Graham Donaldson vice-chairman and Miss Vivien Heighway honorary secretary and treasurer. Additional members of the Committee were: M. D. Chater, G. E. Ellard, T. C. Hart, Ellic Howe, H. L.Hunter, Arthur Walker and G. H. H. Wood.
Eight meetings were held in the first two years in the Court Room of Stationers' Hall. Guest speakers included the president of the Periodical Publishers' Association, the general secretary of the London Typographical Society, the Printers to the Universitiss of Oxford and Cambridge and Dr G. W. Ovink of Amsterdam, with attendances averaging fifty to sixty.
1960-1961
James Moran assumed the chairmanship for the third and fourth years, with Kenneth Day as vice-chairman, Miss Vivien Heighway honorary treasurer and H. L. Hunter honorary secretary. Additional members of Committee were M. D. Chater, C. M. Colebrook, Graham Donaldson, G. E. Ellard, Arthur Walker, F. G. Williams and G. H. H. Wood.
Five meetings were held each year in the Banqueting Hall of Stationers' Hall with attendances rising to between eighty and a hundred. Guest speakers: Michael Hornby, Sem Hartz, Walter Plata, Paul Reilly, Rudi Walder, Colin Cole, Miss P. M. Handover, Mrs Beatrice Warde and Sir Francis Meynell.
Sir Frederick Hoare, shortly to become Lord Mayor of London, spoke at a meeting in September 1961 held at the Charing Cross Hotel, preceding a visit to the Royal Society of Arts to view the ‘Five Hundred Years of Printing History’ Exhibition sponsored by the Society for the benefit of the St Bride Printing Library.
1962-1963
Kenneth Day became chairman for 1962 and 1963 with Chris Colebrook as vice-chairman. B. G. Marchant was elected honorary treasurer at the sth Annual General Meeting.
Solander cases were presented to Miss V.M. Heighway on retiring from office in recognition of her work as honorary treasurer of the Society since formation and as first honorary secretary, and to Arthur J. Heighway as founder.
Membership reached ninety-nine by the end of 1962; to meet an obvious need to extend permitted numbers beyond the hundred of the original Constitution and promote increased attendance at meetings, a revised Constitution was adopted in February 1963. Committeemembership comprised:
Miss P.M. Handover, B. A. Cracknell, G. T. Knipe, Bernard Roberts, G. E. Rush, F.G. Williams and T.P. Wright. Speakers in 1962 and 1963 included J. H. Brebner, Clive Labovitch, Glanvill Benn, Ian Parsons, Richard Clay, Tom Eckersley, George Scott, Stanhope Shelton, Trevor Evans, Sir Frank Francis, Wilfred Harvey and Stuart Rose.
IPEX 1963
During the International Printing Exhibition a special IPEX Luncheon Meeting was organised on 25 July 1963 'to honour leading overseas visitors' with Stanley Morison as Guest of Honour. S. M. accepted as a memento of the occasion a silver snuff box engraved with the Society's symbol and spoke briefly on the achievement of the Printing and the Mind of Man' section of the Exhibition, with which he had been intimately concerned. The tradition has since then been maintained of holding an International Meeting in July each year at which guest speakers have been: George Hetherington (Dublin) and Rollo Silver (USA) in 1964, Maximilien Vox (France) in 1965, Robert E. Rossell (USA) in 1966, and Sem Hartz (Holland) in 1967. An extra occasion of international flavour was arranged on 2 June 1966 to welcome an American party from the Type Directors Club, when the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers acted as hosts at a preliminary reception and arranged a display of some of the Company's treasures.
1964-1965
In May 1964 the Society was permitted to hold a Meeting in the Livery Hall, Guildhall with special reference to print in the City of London, addressed by Alderman Sir Denys Lowson Bt and Francis Mathew of The Times.
Chris Colebrook became chairman for 1964 and 1965 with Jack Matson as vice-chairman and Committee members: Miss P.M. Handover, B. A. Cracknell, G.T. Knipe, A. Mackay Miller, G.E. Rush, F.G. Williams and T.P. Wright. Speakers were: Arnold Quick, Norman Collins, Mark Longman, Dr Harvey Flack, Dr Michael Barnett, George Plante, John Dreyfus, Robert Gavron and Brian MacCabe.
1966-1967
For 1966 and 1967 Bernard Roberts took over the chair with Jack Matson continuing as vice-chairman, Lawrence Williams replacing B. G. Marchant as honorary treasurer, and Com-mittee: James Blake, B. A. Cracknell, F. J. Holroyde, W.J. Hummerstone, A. Mackay Miller, Tom Lockett, G. E. Rush, Hugh Williamson, and T.P. Wright. Guest speakers:
Dr Tom Margerison, Brooke Crutchley, F. H. K. Henrion, Christopher Cornford, B. A. Cracknell and George Rush conducting a Members' Symposium on computer typesetting, John Attenborough, Gerard Wood, John Briggs, Hugh Williamson and Claud Morris.
Themes
The Society has been very fortunate in persuading so many distinguished people to participate as speakers at Luncheon Meetings. Themes underlining the purpose of the Society from different aspects have included: Print and Its Public Impact, The Place of Print in the Community, The Printed Image: Intention and Execution, The Cleavage in Print and Taking Stock.
The Stationers' Company
The Society is indebted to the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers and successive Masters for the privilege of meeting at Stationers' Hall. This is appreciated by all members and their guests, especially those from abroad. The Society's gratitude is once more recorded in this review. We are also pleased to have the benefit of receiving into membership the Master of the Company during his term of office.
Society Printing
With the willing and generous co-operation of members in turn, Menus for Luncheon Meetings have covered a range of effects; and the Society is indebted to a succession of honorary printers: James Shand (Shenval Press) (1957-8-9), Frank Williams (Williams, Lea) (1960-61), Bernard Roberts (John Roberts Press) (1962-63), Antony Mackay Miller (Mackays of Chatham) 1964-65) and W. J.Hummerstone (Stellar Press) (1966-67), and to many others who have undertaken design and production of, and supply of materials for, the Society's ephemera and its publications, many of which have become collectors items and have been exhibited in France, South Africa and the United States.
Publications
Apart from reprints of speakers' contributions and five Occasional Papers the Society has published:
Wynkyn de Worde: Father of Fleet Street by James Moran
(1960; Shenval Press - still available at £2 2s)
Six on The Black Art by John Ryder
The Unifying Element: The Creative Use of Paper
(1963)
An Essay on Optical Letter Spacing by David Kindersley
(1966; Lund Humphries)
Print: A Handbook for Entrants to the Trade
(1966; Ernest Benn 10s 6d)
A Caslon Portfolio
(1966)
A History of Printing Inks and Rollers to 1850 by Colin Bloy
(1967; Evelyn Adams & Mackay - £2 5s)
As chairman of the Publications Committee Kenneth Day promises to maintain the flow of offerings for members and, when appropriate, for wider circulation and in co-operation with the Printing Historical Society and the Newcastle upon Tyne Imprint Club.
Visits
Besides Luncheon meetings at Stationers' Hall and elsewhere privileged visits have been held for groups of members to the Royal Library at Windsor, the House of Commons, The British Museum, Lambeth Palace, Eton College, Hatfield House, the University Press, Oxford and five College libraries at Cambridge.
Overseas Members
To increase facilities for contacts and exchange of information beyond the UK, membership of the Society has been extended to a number of individuals from other countries, including:
Australia: John Pitson - Government Printing Office, Canberra
Canada: Robert R. Reid - McGill University Press, Montreal
Dublin: George Hetherington - Hely-Thom, Dublin
France: Raymond Gid - Paris
Holland: Mauritz Enschedé - Haarlem; Dr G. W. Ovink - Amsterdam
South Africa: Alan Dodson - University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; Stanley Edwards - Spicers (SA) Limited, Johannesburg
Sweden: Dr Bror Zachrisson - Stockholm
USA: P. W. Filby - Baltimore, Maryland; Dr Robert L. Leslie - New York; Jack Rau - corresponding member with the American Institute of Graphic Arts; Rollo G. Silver - Boston, Massachusetts; Dr Merald E. Wrolstad - Cleveland, Ohio.
A link is moreover maintained with the lively Imprint Club of Newcastle upon Tyne through Professor Peter Isaac as corresponding member.
A.Typ.I.
In May 1966 a party of members attended the 9th Annual Congress of the Association Typographique Internationale in the Gutenberg Museum at Mainz. Subsequently the Society became affiliated to A.Typ.I. and a delegation was formed for the roth Annual Congress at UNES CO headquarters in Paris
in November 1967, which included a display of selected specimens of members' work. Specially produced keepsakes from the Society were presented to all members of the Congresses of 1966 and 1967.
The Second Decade
The founder's hopes for the Society may well be claimed to have been fulfilled in the first ten years. Members with a concern for general improvement in the standard of British printing will appreciate the challenge ahead for the second decade.
Set and Printed for the Wynkyn de Worde Society December 1967 by The Stellar Press at Barnet, on paper supplied by Grosvenor Chater & Co. Ltd. The cover paper is Bohemia Green the text is Abbey Mills Antique Laid Snow White For distribution to members January 1968.
