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Type specimen · By Hamilton & Katz · 1880

Specimens of Holly Wood Type

A 20-page wood type catalogue from Hamilton & Katz of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the firm later known as the Hamilton Manufacturing Co. The cover sells one idea: type cut from holly wood is fully equal to the old style of wood type, and the letters inside say it costs about half as much.

What it is

A 20-page wood type catalogue from Hamilton & Katz of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the firm later known as the Hamilton Manufacturing Co. The cover sells one idea: type cut from holly wood is fully equal to the old style of wood type, and the letters inside say it costs about half as much. Before any face is shown, two pages carry some 30 letters from newspapers, job printers and bag makers in Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Dakota Territory. Each names the office, the press (cylinder, Gordon, Campbell), the months of use and the result: no breakage, a clean impression, ink that takes better. Raymond Bag Co. calls bag work the hardest test for type. The specimen pages then show numbered faces, mostly Nos. 62 to 83, and German Nos. 1 to 11, each priced from 2 to 15 cents.

Why read it now

The catalogue is a lesson in the order of proof. Hamilton puts customers first and product second, so a doubtful country printer meets thirty peers before he meets a price. The letters persuade because they are specific: the town, the press, six months to two years of use, the kind of job. Raymond Bag Co. gives the strongest form, the hardest-case test: if the type survives bag work, it survives anything. One letter admits it has not had a fair trial, and Hamilton prints it anyway. Modern review research agrees on both points. Northwestern's Spiegel Research Center found that purchase likelihood rises sharply once a product shows its first few reviews, and that near-perfect ratings are trusted less than slightly mixed ones. What has dated: every letter is favourable, one writer mentions that Hamilton asked for his opinion, and the claim of equal durability rests on months, not years. Use: in a B2B catalogue or sales page, open with short customer statements that each name the job, the equipment, the time in use and the saving, and keep one measured voice among them.

Passages worth keeping

It is the cheapest Wood Type made, and the cheapest in the end for the printer.
p. 3, Northern Wisconsin News, Merrill

الشهادة تجمع بين السعر الأقل عند الشراء والتكلفة الأقل على المدى الطويل، فترد على خوف المشتري من أن الرخيص يكلف أكثر لاحقًا.

The high prices of Wood Type, with the limited demand for their use in country offices, rendered it impossible for country publishers to afford an assortment of wood letters until you solved the problem with your saw and Holly.
p. 3, Journal Office, Fergus Falls

الزبون يشرح المشكلة بلسانه: المطابع الصغيرة لم تكن تقدر على شراء الحروف الخشبية، والمنتج الجديد جعلها في متناولها.

if your type will stand our kind of work they will stand any other work.
p. 4, Raymond Bag Co., Dubuque

هذه شهادة أصعب حالة: إذا نجح المنتج في أقسى استخدام فلا داعي للقلق في الاستخدامات الأخف.

I have not used Holly Wood Type enough to give it a fair trial, but it has been very satisfactory as far as used.
p. 4, Optic Office

الشركة نشرت رأيًا حذرًا غير مكتمل، وهذا الاعتدال يجعل بقية الشهادات أقرب إلى التصديق.

All orders Promptly Filled. Specimen Book and Sample Type sent free on Application.
p. 3, cover

العرض يزيل خطر التجربة: كتاب العينات وحروف للتجربة يُرسلان مجانًا لمن يطلبهما.

The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.

Read the original archive.org

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