James Cryer is the author of “The Romance of Letterpress”. The book provides a first-hand account of the printing industry in the early 1900s.
James Cryer was born and bred in Sydney, the fourth generation of a well-known printing family. He was educated at Sydney Grammar and gained degrees at UNSW and Macquarie University.
Married with three “kids” for the past four decades, he’s run his own consultancy for the last 20-odd years (JDA Print Recruitment – www.jdaprintrecruit.com.au), specialising in recruitment across all sectors of the Australian printing industry. He is also an active member of various print industry associations and has written extensively for several print trade-media publications.
Although a “product” of print, he’s always viewed it through the prism of how it fitted into society, rather than through the more traditional, narrow lens of technology. He felt there was a need to show how print is part of the fabric of society and the discovery of a Diary (written in 1913 by the grandfather he never met), provided the trigger he was seeking.
The Romance of Letterpress paints a unique picture, not only of what printing looked like a hundred years ago but also how society began to emerge out of the shadows, often in surprising ways.
When not thinking printing, he refuses to play golf on principle, but instead, collects enamel signs and goes bushwalking, cross-country skiing and mountain-biking (not all at the same time).
