Story: Publishing

Government Printing Office at work

This series of images shows workers at the Government Printing Office at various stages in the printing process in the late 1940s. The sequence begins in the compositors' room, as workers set the type. It then moves to the first galley proof stage, with an apprentice removing a trial sheet from the press. We then see a printed sheet emerging at the end of a large press, and finally workers bind the printed paper into the finished book. During these years the Government Printing Office continued to be a major operation and published many books of general interest.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, National Publicity Studios Collection
Reference: 1/2-030139-F (AAQT 6439/A14, 069); 1/2-030143-F (AAQT 6439/A14,111); 1/2-034103-F (AAQT 6439/A14, 047); 1/2-034106-F (AAQT 6439/A2, 855)

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Elizabeth Caffin, 'Publishing - Educational publishing and Whitcombe and Tombs', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/interactive/42250/government-printing-office-at-work (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Elizabeth Caffin, published 22 Oct 2014