Regular newspapers made with manual typesetting

Igor Freiberger

Does anybody know about newspapers that are still using manual typesetting? I believe they are very rare today. There is Saguache Crescent from Saguache, Colorado, but it is using hot metal and I am looking for manual typesetting.

My question is triggered by a discovery. In a small city near where I live there is a newspaper still made manually. The newspaper is published continuously since 1887 and uses the same machinery since 1910. They are starting to migrate to off-set so I should visit and document it before the history vanishes.

I would like to know if there are other newspapers using this old technology. And suggestions regarding what would be interesting to picture about it are welcome.

These articles are in Portuguese, but the images are self-explanatory:
Jornal O Taquaryense • Municipality of Taquari • Article about the old newspaper

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

Look to non-Latin cultures.

John Savard

He is even holding the row of type in his hand without the luxury of a composing stick!

And, yes, Hrant's comment makes sense. In Asia and the Middle East, as well as Ethiopia, people are less well served by modern technology, so even though companies like Linotype and Monotype did attempt to provide for their scripts, many newspapers in those parts of the world likely could not afford the cost (not to mention that poor countries often control foreign exchange).

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

There was a BBC article some years ago about a newspaper in Pakistan that still (?) runs on photography of pasted-up columns of calligraphy. Some (admittedly light) searching didn't turn it up however.

John Savard

IIRC, that was because of the difficulty in typesetting Nastaliq.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

Indeed... although where there is no practical reason to stick to a lo-tech approach, the driving force is usually nostalgia or some other affectation...

Dan Reynolds

Hrant may be thinking of the Musalman, a newspaper from Chennai in India. https://www.google.de/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/society/the-worlds-only-handwritten-newspaper-is-91-and-sells-at-75-paise/article23528891.ece/amp/

If you give those words into Google, there are a bunch of videos that come up, too. At least one short one shot by a type designer as well.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

Thanks, that's most probably it! I did remember it was in Urdu, but then assumed it was based in Pakistan.