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June 9th, 2010:

Harts Printers Rollers – Greene Street – Soho, NYC

© Frank H. Jump

Internet references:

Mrs. William C. Hart was born May Gleason in New Orleans but grew up in New Jersey and was married there, in Jersey City. The Harts lived in Rochester, where her father-in-law established a factory to manufacture printers’ rollers. When a branch was opened in New York, they moved, in 1914, to Kew Gardens. She and her daughter, Jeanne, live in the same Kew Gardens house, the sole remaining original residents on the street, at 119 82nd Avenue.A Picture of Kew Gardens

In 1813, printer Robert Harrild (1780-1853) joined the debated raging inside the London printing community as to the use of rollers rather than balls to ink a printing plate. The majority of hand-printers preferred inking balls but Harrild’s demonstration of his new roller was so successful that rollers became compulsory in every print shop throughout the city. Harrild established a company, located at 25 Farringdon Street, to manufacture the rollers and eventually all kinds of printing equipment. – Harrild & Sons Printing Machinery – Graphic Arts  – Princeton University Blog – July 2, 2009

I was lucky to get a shot of this without the revolting Aesthetic Realism flag flying underneath.