Alternate Title(s)

• The Craftsman (Finkelstein)

Start Date(s)

• 1872 (Bigmore and Wyman)

End Date(s)

• 1873 (Bigmore and Wyman)

Printer/Publisher(s)

• Edinburgh Typographical Society

City

• Edinburgh, Scotland (journal itself)

Notes

• Motto: “They helped every one his neighbour: and every one said to his brother, be of good courage”--from Isaiah 41:6 (COPAC)
• John S. Common was the secretary of the Edinburgh Typographical Society, the proprietor of this journal, at the time of the strike; perhaps he served as editor? His name appears in a few places throughout
• “In 1872, a strike took place among the printers of Edinburgh, and with a view of employing some of the hands thus thrown out of work, a printing-office was set up on the co-operative principle. The above paper emanated from this office. The publication was only continued for a few weeks; but while it lasted it was highly creditable to the literary acumen of its conductors. In the concluding number a hope was held out of resuscitation, but this has never been realised” (Bigmore and Wyman vol. 2, pp. 166-67)
• “During the three-month strike, the Edinburgh union also produced a strike newsletter, entitled initially Out on Strike, then The Craftsman, which was circulated widely amongst Scottish print trade [sic] to inform and to boost morale. The unit charged with producing the newsletter was later spun out post-strike into a co-operative printing company that made effective interventions in the Edinburgh print trade for several decades after” (Finkelstein p. 83)
• “In the end of the year 1872, a strike occurred among the printers of Edinburgh, and lasted about three months. When the strike commenced, the men brought out weekly a small paper, which at first took the title of Out on Strike, but was subsequently altered to the more comprehensive one of the Craftsman. Whilst professing to take up the cry of no political party, its principles were thoroughly democratic, and it aimed at giving news affecting all trades in Scotland, England, Ireland, and the Principality. With the resumption of work by the strikers, in February 1873, the career of the Craftsman came to an end” (Norrie p. 15)
• “Ceased publication in June 1873” (MacDougall p. 351)
• Publisher’s (Edinburgh Typographical Society) address: Drummond Street Hall, Edinburgh (journal itself)
• Printer: W. Reid at Drummond Street Hall, Edinburgh (journal itself)

Subject Categories

• Printing Trade
• Trade Unions

Issues

• Out on Strike 1.2 (14 Dec. 1872)

Sources that Discuss this Journal

• “The Bibliography” vol. 7, p. 63
• Bigmore and Wyman vol. 2, pp. 166-67
• COPAC
• Finkelstein p. 83
• MacDougall p. 351
• Norrie p. 15

Works Cited

• “The Bibliography of Printing.” The Printing Times and Lithographer, vol. 7, nos. 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, Jan.-June 1881. HathiTrust.
• Bigmore, E. C., and C. W. H. Wyman. A Bibliography of Printing. 1880. Oak Knoll P and the British Library, 2001.
• COPAC: Consortium of Online Public Access Catalogues. Library Hub Discover, JISC.
• Finkelstein, David. Movable Types: Roving Creative Printers of the Victorian World. Oxford UP, 2018.
• MacDougall, Ian, ed. The Minutes of Edinburgh Trades Council, 1859-1873. Scottish History Society, 1968.
• Norrie, William. Edinburgh Newspapers Past and Present. Waverley P, 1892. Google Books.