The End of a Printing Era
As the Seattle economy shifts, one of the city's early job printers liquidates his massive wood type collection, marking a quiet close to a chapter of local industry.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The undersigned, desiring to close out his jobbing business in Seattle, will sell the following materials at very low rates for cash: Super Royal Hand Press, 50 lbs. Metal Furniture, 9 Job Cases, and an assortment of Wood Type, consisting of 14 fonts: Eight line Gothic Tuscan; ten line Clarendon condensed; ten line Columbian; twenty line Roman extra condensed; thirty line Roman extra condensed No. 1; eight line French Clarendon; six line Antique condensed; eight line Lightface; fifteen line Roman extra condensed No. 1; twenty-four line French Antique; twenty line Aldine. The above lot is worth $216.85 and will be sold for the small sum of $160. Austin A. Bell.
“The above lot is worth $216.85 and will be sold for the small sum of $160.”
Austin A. Bell was a pivotal figure in early Seattle, best known for establishing the Belltown neighborhood. His liquidation of a printing press reflects the rapid turnover of small-scale industry in 19th-century Seattle, mirroring the way current development pressures continue to force out the small businesses that built the city's character.
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