The Closing of a Pressroom Era
As the Seattle economy shifts, a local printer liquidates his entire inventory, marking the end of a small-scale business in a growing territory.
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 the following assortment of Wood Type, consisting of 11 fonts: Eight-line Gothic Tuscan condensed, 4A; ten-line Clarendon condensed, 4A; ten-line Columbian, 3A, with figures; twenty-line Roman extra condensed No. 1, 3A, with figures; thirty-line Roman extra condensed No. 1, 3A, with figures; eight-line French Clarendon, 4A, with figures; six-line Antique condensed, 4A, with figures; eight-line Lightface, 4A, with figures; fifteen-line Roman extra condensed No. 1, 4A, with figures; twenty-four-line French Antique, 3A, with figures; and twenty-line Aldine, 3A, with figures. The above lot is worth new, $216.86; it is as good as new, and will be sold for the small sum of $160. Austin A. Bell.
“The undersigned, desiring to close out his jobbing business in Seattle, will sell the following materials at very low rates for cash.”
This 1878 advertisement captures the volatile nature of Seattle's early economy, where small independent shops were frequently forced to liquidate due to shifting markets. Today, the struggle for space and survival for small business owners in the face of rapid urban development remains a central tension in the city's identity.
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