A change from the usual for this week’s excavation into The Spectator archives — which is to say, we won’t be digging out an article from the magazine’s 183-year back-catalogue for CoffeeHousers’ delectation. Instead, the images above, and a quick, little story.
Given how nostalgic some people have recently been for the General Strike of 1926, my thinking was to present The Spectator’s coverage from the time. (It is critical of both government and unions, as it happens). But it was the appearance of the issue dated 8th May 1926 that caught my eye, rather than its content. Its pages are thicker and rougher than the typical Spectators of that year. Its imprint looks straight off a typewriter, faded and blue. Its page-count is measlier. You should be able to see some of the difference in the scanned images above, with the 8th May issue on the left.
But why? You guessed it. Turns out that The Spectator printed and published itself that week — as many papers did
— to circumvent both the strikes and the demands on ink and paper made by Churchill’s own anti-strike newspaper. A note on p.6 of
this DIY issue reads:
In the following week’s issue, where all appears to be returned to normal, there is another note:“Published by the ‘Spectator’ at their Offices, No.13, York Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2. Saturday May 8th, 1926, by means of the Gestetner Duplicating Machine.”
Ahead of yesterday’s strikes, the government encouraged parents to do what they could to prevail in the face of industrial action. Here at the Speccie, we just have someone manning the ol’ Gestetner.*“We thank the large number of our subscribers who have sent us messages of congratulation upon ‘The Spectator’ of May 8th 1926 — which, in spite of its appearance in typescript, has been much appreciated.”
* Or, perhaps, the new Gestetner. The company still exists.
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