Foucher Frères Produces and Sells Equipment for Typecasting, Typesetting, Stereotyping, Electrotyping, Bookbinding, and Photogravure

The large quarto format hardbound catalogue of Materiel typographique. Catalogue général published by Foucher Frères of Paris in 1886 is the largest illustrated catalogue of printing equipment published in the 19th century that I acquired. Notably Foucher concentrated on niche elements of the business, and while they specialized in type casting and typesetting equipment they stayed entirely away from any of the new mechanized typesetting equipment. For printing presses they only offered an updated Stanhope iron handpress, which notably was still being manufactured in France roughly 86 years after it was first introduced. For bookbinding they offered only basic equipment that would be used in a hand bindery. For traditional hand typesetting they offered the widest possible selection of type cabinets, drawers, etc. The title page of their catalogue boasted that they furnished equipment for the national printing houses of France, Austria, Greece, Russia, Egypt, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria , etc.