The Paper & Printing Trades Journal was one of the first trade publications for the printing and publishing industries. Launched in 1872 by the London firm of Field & Tuer under the imprint Ye Leadenhalle Workes (later the Leadenhall Press

Leadenhall Press

The Leadenhall Press was founded by Andrew White Tuer as the publishing division of the London partnership of Field & Tuer, following a move to 50 Leadenhall Street in 1868. The firm began as job printers, stationers, and manufacturers in 1862, when Tuer joined with Abraham Field , an established...

), it was edited for many years by Andrew White Tuer

Andrew White Tuer

Andrew White Tuer was a publisher, writer and printer, born in Sunderland in 1838. Orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his great-uncle, Andrew White, after whom he was named. After his education, he went to London with the plan of becoming a doctor, but that did not suit him, and after...

 and his assistent Robert Hilton. The introduction to the first issue described the quarterly as “A Medium of Intercommunication Between Stationers, Printers, Publishers and Booksellers and the Manufacturers.” Initially distributed gratis, in 1874 a charge of one shilling was imposed for four issues. Content consisted of advertising, news, reviews, articles about new products and machinery, printers jokes (in the form of a column titled "Quads"), and commentary by Tuer and Hilton on printing samples sent in for a "Specimens" feature begun in 1874. That column eventually led to an the ambitious annual, the Printers' International Specimen Exchange

Printers' International Specimen Exchange

The Printers' International Specimen Exchange was an influential annual subscription publication for the "technical education of the working printer" that ran from 1880 to 1898...

, introduced by Field & Tuer in 1880. The journal was sold in 1891 to John Southward, author of several important works on printing and typography.