Souvenir from "Hasolel" printing press. Jerusalem, 1921.
Printed (stenciled) textile, colored by hand.
This souvenir, made of a printed textile, was made by "Hasolel" company in honor of the transition to printing with a Linotype machine - a typesetting machine which replaced manual typesetting. On the upper and lower margins the title is printed: "Hassolel Palestine Society of Advertising and Publication" (Hebrew, English and Arabic). The illustration on the textile, made by Ze'ev Raban (not signed) depicts the transition from the old period - an elderly writer wearing a tarbush, sitting on a stool and writing on a scroll with a feather, and the new, modern, era - a worker wearing an overall standing next to a machine with an inscription in English "Intertype"; the worker holds in his hand a newspaper on which it is printed in large letters (Hebrew) "This is no legend". On the upper right side appears the date in Hebrew "Av 12, 1919" and on the left the Gregorian date. Printed on the right margins: "Souvenir from the inauguration of the Hassolel Intertype composing machines, Jerusalem, Shvat,18, 1921". On the left appears the same text in Hebrew and Arabic.
The integration of a "Linotype" machine in the summer of 1920 by Itamar Ben Avi in "Hasolel" printing press lead to a strike of printing workers, a strike which lasted several weeks. "Hasolel" company was founded in 1919 and was the leading printing press in Jerusalem where most of the daily papers were printed: "Do'ar HaYom", "Palestine Weekly" and "Barid El-Yom"(in Arabic). The press was located in the center of Jerusalem, later in Hasolel Street.
51X34 cm, fair-good condition. Faded print, spotting. The margins are folded and pierced by nails.