This Museum has the world's most complete collection of printing and typographic equipment and, especially, artefacts. In fact there is probably no other museum with :

• substantial collections of artefacts and documents about individual printed jobs:
  • artefacts include saved typesettings, engraved blocks, stereotypes, artwork (mechanicals) negatives and plates
  • documents include orders, proofs, press sheets, costings, invoices etc, many of these in job bags.

• sufficient typesetting equipment (either hot metal or hand composing) to recreate the size, complexity and atmosphere of, for example, a newspaper composing room.

• thousands of founts of handset type (mainly in typecases) showing the challenge of designing with the limited range of typefaces actually in use at dozens of now-closed printeries, and available for use by students or practitioners in our workshops.

THESE MATERIALS will be accessible, when finally stored in a satisfactory situation, by artists, designers and various researchers and will provide information about the designs, methods of production, business systems of the printeries concerned and the thousands of customers whose work is represented. Many of those customers were well-known businesses since closed.

UNFORTUNATELY, when the Museum was forced to close in 1998, these materials had to be stored wherever free or cheap space could be found. This could not be for ever, as the owners of those spaces had to move on.

One building was demolished and its contents, luckily, could be accommodated in a new store, in 2002.

But the contents of this store - our largest - at Newport may not be so lucky. The other occupiers, another museum in fact, are being squeezed for space and have stated that they will remove this Museum's machinery, equipment and artefacts, whatever is there, to the tip, almost immediately.

They have advised this Museum that the government authority responsible for this Newport site has authorised them to dispose of our materials.

This Museum, being unfunded by government or industry, has used up its limited resources and cannot obtain further storage. We are still trying, of course!

PLEASE NOTE, WHEN VIEWING:

The goods while in storage have not been well cared for, and will be given careful attention when eventually "liberated". Accordingly many items in these pictures appear neglected and dirty and also have suffered damage or disarray by unauthorised "visitors".

Also relevant to mention that many beautiful and fascinating items are "hidden" behind others or in containers. The items also include many important spare parts and unique individual specimens. We have been unable to identify and remove all of these, so if the wreckers come in, they will be lost along with other items of varying values.