ABSTRACT
Chapter Two examined the experience of skilled compositors in the context
of the diverse and evolving printing trade of the latter half of the nineteenth
century. It was been demonstrated that ancient customs and practices coex-
isted with emerging industrial methods, leading to a complex and often
contradictory view of a trade that was, at the same time, both a hand craft and
a sophisticated modern industry. The conclusion must be that, in respect of
both technique and organization, the trade was traditional, cautious and
calculating.1
