Printing, publishing and politics
+EC1 themes index
Clerkenwell 101
69 Printing became huge in the 18th century. In 1725 there were 75 printers in Clerkenwell, by 1731 there were 124. Clerkenwell was close to the traditional centre of book publishing around St Paul’s and Fleet Street, lying halfway between ‘court and counting house’, (Parliament and the City). There were around 118 printers in Clerkenwell in 1970s, but by 2005 this number had dropped to around 40.
70 In 1718 the artist William Hogarth set up his first engraving business at his mother’s house in Long Lane.
71 Clerkenwell has a long tradition of left-leaning publications. The Twentieth Century Press was founded in Clerkenwell by the Social Democratic Federation as printer for its journal ‘Justice’ in 1893 and was the first socialist press. At the Marx Memorial Library on Clerkenwell Green, between 1902 to 1903, the exiled Lenin printed his newspaper Iskra. From 1930, The Daily Worker (now known as The Morning Star) newspaper was published on Farringdon Road. Spare Rib was a feminist magazine, launched from Clerkenwell Close in 1972. The area’s tradition of left-leaning publication continued until late 2008 with The Guardian and The Observer also having their headquarters on Farringdon Road.
72 William Caslon set up his type foundry in 1730s in Clerkenwell, where it operated for two centuries. One of his foundry’s fonts was used to print the American Declaration of Independence.
73 The Gentleman’s Magazine was founded by Edward Cave in January 1731 and produced and printed in St John’s Gate. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term magazine for a periodical. Samuel Johnson’s first regular employment as a writer was with The Gentleman’s Magazine.
74 Magculture, at 270 St John Street, is a shop for magazine and design fanatics, celebrating the beauty of print in a digital age. Infringe magazine, for example, is a stunning 500 page magazine dedicated to ‘the anthropology of hair’. A snip at just £36. Sabat is dedicated to contemporary witchcraft, proving the ideal read for Clerkenwell’s hipster witches.