In my letterpress classes I am constantly reminding students to use a ruler or pica pole to measure things — Is the type straight on the page? Is it really centered? How much furniture do they need for the lockup? Some resist (although everyone comes around by the end of the day), but others start immediately to reminisce about using a type gauge, like the Haberule ones on the left.
I looked up the Haberule the other day, to see if perhaps I could find one to show students. I immediately found the Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies, full of tools that were useful not-so-long-ago, but have been mostly supplanted by computers. Look here for info on the Haberule (be sure to look at the comments, which explain how it works).
I feel a bout of old codger coming on.
Parenting Magazine used to have all its galleys set in linotype at Mackenzie-Harris. We specified line-by-line using a Haberule. In a pinch the ruler also made a fair cake slicer/spatula during art department birthday parties.
Just found your blog while googling “french fold”…I print on a Vandercook 4…Love your blog…i bookmarked it and will be back to read more…thank you…letterpress lives
oh…I’m odbobb press
Hi!
My name is Heather Haber and my great-grandfather Max Haber invented the Haberule. I didn’t even know of its existence until I was in my 20s. When I moved to NYC and entered the publishing industry, art directors asked if I was related to the Haberule, and I was so surprised–no one in my family every talked about it. I now work in advertising as a copy director, and feel a kinship with this man that I never knew. What’s really funny is I live a block away from Cooper Union, where he went to art school in 1915. And I have the art he did there hanging on my walls.
If anyone has any Haberule anecdotes to share, I’d love to hear them. You can contact me at hgh1975@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Heather
I still have my Haberule Visual Copy-Caster from my days at the U of Missouri, J School (BJ 51). It is in like-new condition and complete and cost me $6.
Just came across my old Haberule copy caster and googled it. That’s how I got here. Wow, I’m going on 66. When I started in “commercial art”, I used to go to the typesetter’s place and pick up proofs or drop off “specked” text. The place smelled of printing ink. There was a cauldron of molten lead sitting on a flaming ring of fire. The floor was black with ink and it was like the dark ages. The Linotype machines clanked away as the typesetters did their thing. Now those machines are in museums and any kid with a computer can do “type setting.”