Scarce and Excellent Looking Antique STAR Printer's Make-Up Rule fly pin black ink on pale blue

black ink on pale blue lined paper with a few stains and old fold marks

and my favorite of all

Plenty of dings and a little rust

Glossy surface snapshot

with his "falling man" silhouettes lending themselves to all sorts of interesting kaleidoscopic permutations

Scarce and Excellent Looking Antique STAR Printer's Make-Up Rule fly pin black ink on pale blueI spotted this in a case at an antiques shop in central MA and jumped on it just for the sight of it, but have since come to learn it is a rather iconic little tool in the type laying world: a Star printer's make up rule (or composing rule) used in letterpress printing for measuring and justifying lines of type. Not in the least my expertise, but in the realm of printing history these seem to hold a special place; I read one wonderful story of a print