Hailing's Circular

Hailing's Circular vols 1-2, nos.1-24 [all published]. Cheltenham: Thomas Hailing, Oxford Printing Works, 1877-89. 2 vols. 4to. Pp. [vii], 116; [viii], 141. Portraits of Benjamin Franklin and A.V.Haight. Many strikingly displayed pages using a variety of fancy types and making frequent use of colour, including some gold bronze printing. Publisher's decorative cloth bindings, rubbed at head and tail of spine. All edges gilt. A very good set.

   Three early numbers are reprints, no.1 is the 3rd ed.,1880, no.2, 2nd ed.,1882 and no.7, 2nd ed., 1881.

   One of the earliest printers' house organs and a pioneer in Britain of the new American style of 'artistic' printing. Thomas Hailing (1839-99) was at various times agent for the Central and Boston typefoundries, Earhart's Superior Printer and the American Model Printer, as well as being a notable early supporter of the Printers' International Specimen Exchange - all interests reflected in the pages of his Circular. Hailing's Circular was much more than an advertising medium, however, providing much-valued professional leadership in a period which saw significant social and educational reform in the printing industry. 'He preached the interdependence of master and workman in seeking technical perfection, the balance of every contributory element in the achievement of high standards of everyday printing, and the paramount importance of apprentice training. He was one of those men, not uncommon in the Victorian age, who could introduce spiritual values and public enlightenment into the advertising of his own wares without any apparent cant or self-consciousness. As John Johnson said of him in our own century: "For a generation which itself saw no incongruity in this outlook, Hailing was both an economic and a psychological landmark in printing progress".' (R.S.Hutchings). Rare. BUCOP records only two complete sets. Sold.