I've been reading the memoirs of the late Rowley Atterbury, the founder of the Westerham Press who died earlier this week.
I can heartily recommend his book, A Good Idea at the Time? which contains many fascinating and candid insights into his and the press' story.
There's a compelling chapter about the ambitious move into a new, architect-designed and purpose-built factory in 1965. The design was formulated around three core requirements, and I quote:
- An office to organise and control the output of the factory
- An air-conditioned unit in which computers, cameras, scanners and filmsetting devices could operation in suitable conditions
- A large open-plan machine shop, tall enough for a web offset press with a gas dryer, for the process of printing on paper and finishing the work with various binding production lines. This area to be air-conditioned and humidity-controlled.
Each of these three areas to be independent and capable of development and expansion as techniques changed, without affecting the other two units.
I can think of quite a few printing businesses who don't have facilities that are as practical today. Sadly I never visited this wonder of the modern printing age, it was demolished for housing in 1992.
It's obvious that Atterbury and his associates were visionaries of the highest order and this made me wonder, will we ever see similar volumes from more recent print visionaries, or is this the sort of book that is of its time, along with the author? The memoirs of Lord Gavron, Mike Taylor, Mike Hunter, and David Mitchell would make interesting reading, I think. As it happens Gavron makes an appearance in A Good Idea at the Time?, along with Gerald Frankel back in the CAPS (Commercial Aid Printing Services) days.
Sadly, I fear that Atterbury was one of the last of his kind in more ways than one.
