Evidence for ‘Coal-Tar’ Pigments in British Printing Ink, 1860–1914
With Ian Dooley
Wednesday 6th November 2024
St Bride Foundation and Online via Zoom
In-person time (GMT):
Doors/ Bar Open: 18:15pm
Talk Starts: 19:00pm
Talk Ends: 20:30pm
In-person tickets: £9.00, £12.00, £14.00
Please Note: Ticket sales end at 4pm on the day of the talk. If available, tickets purchased in-person on the door will cost £16 per person. Please do call or email us to check if an event has any tickets left as you may not be admitted if we have sold out.
Online time (GMT): 19:00pm-20:30pm
Online tickets: £6.00, £8.00
Please Note: Ticket sales end at 4pm on the day of the talk. You will be emailed the Zoom link for the talk at 6pm on the day of the talk. We will also send the link to all in-person ticket holders in case they are unable to attend and would like to join virtually.
Book tickets HERE
This talk explores the introduction and continued use of synthetic organic pigments for printing ink during the late nineteenth century. Synthetic pigments introduced brilliant never-before-seen colours for printing that could not be produced by naturally derived pigments. They are derived from synthetic dyes which began commercial production in the late 1850s. But we don’t know when they were introduced as pigments, for how long they were used, or for what kind of printed material they may or may not have been used for. This talk draws mainly from St Bride Library’s unparalleled collection of specimen books, ink manufacturers’ printed samples of available colours, to track the introduction, appearance, and uses of these pigments. Specimen books reveal the advantages and disadvantages of using these new colours and how they forever changed how books looked.
Ian Dooley is a third year PhD student at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study (University of London). This talk is based on work from their thesis: Printing Ink Manufacturing In Britain And Its Impact On Print Culture And Society: 1850–1900 which explores how industrial ink making fundamentally changed printed material into chemical-industrial products; altering printed material, British culture, and industrial society. Ian is a former library worker at Princeton University Special Collections specialising in book history, nineteenth century illustration techniques, and children’s literature.
Please note: This talk is being held in our Passmore Edwards room which is only accessible by two flights of stairs. If you have accessibility requirements, it may be best to view the talk online, but please contact events@sbf.org.uk ahead of the event if you have any queries.
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