Inter-type machine, Wright & Carman [electronic resource]

1960's.

By the time of the Second Festival of Wellington in 1961, printing and publishing were listed as the city's most significant industries along with footwear and clothing, transport vehicles, electrical products and chemicals. A virtually unbroken tradition of athenaeums, mechanic's institutes and public libraries since 1840 engendered a book- hungry public who patronised Wellington's numerous and justly famous bookshops. To satisfy this demand, new typesetting technologies such as phototype and then computer typesetting had to be introduced - but not without reservations from the highly organised printing trade unions.