URBAN BEAVERS GO TO PRESS

My grandfather, who was no stranger to schemes and antiquated technology, had a massive printing press in Ross where he printed several local papers back in the day. My then unemployed father helped him buy it used for a song, move it across the bay and reassemble it in one piece. My father sometimes helped by laying the type for a while until he got a ‘real’ job. Think of it, trays and trays full of tiny letters that you had to place just right on the tray and cinch into place so it could make copies. Once my Dad famously dropped the arranged page so that my grandpa heatedly said he “pied the tray!” so it had to be redone.

Think about linguistically what’s involved in that phrasing. “Pied the tray”. We’ve never heard it before or sense.

A pied page was a true catastrophe in almost any newspaper printing shop, because of the work needed to put it all together again. Most of the time, everything had to be set over again

Printer’s Jargon

Well, printing has come a long way since those early days. The urban booklet is finally done and off to the printers who have explained it will only cost the equivalent of a small grandchild to be made into flesh. You can’t believe how lovely they’re going to look in book form. And you really shouldn’t believe it because they cost so much I can never give them away. Well, except for at the east coast beaver conference. That’s where they belong.

Until then we can savor it virtually. Thank you to everyone that contributed!