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Template:Did you know nominations/Wood type

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by 97198 (talk) 04:30, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

DYK toolbox

Wood type

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  • ... that Darius Wells published the first known catalogue of wood type in 1828? Source: David Shields, What is wood type?, "Darius Wells of New York invented the means for mass producing letters in 1827, and published the first known wood type catalog in 1828" (citation 1 at time of writing), Rob Roy Kelly, American Wood Type, 1828–1900, page 37 (can be borrowed to view with registration, also snippet view on Google Books), "in March 1828, Wells issued his first catalogue of wood type specimens...This event marked the beginnings of the American wood type industry."
    • ALT1: ... that wood type was invented in China, first mass-produced in the United States, and later exported back to China for use by missionaries? Sources: A History of Chinese Science and Technology, "Bisheng also experimented with wooden movable type, but...drawbacks made wood an undesirable material", David Shields, What is wood type?, "Darius Wells of New York invented the means for mass producing letters in 1827", American Wood Type, 1828–1900, page 76 (can be borrowed to view with registration, also snippet view on Google Books), "Russian, Chinese and Burmese were manufactured for export only."
Example wood type
Example wood type

Created by Blythwood (talk). Self-nominated at 21:56, 3 July 2022 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems

Hook eligibility:

  • Cited: Yes
  • Interesting: No - This particular fact feels like it underplays how interesting this article is, as most readers are unlikely to know who Wells is or what the importance of a catalogue of wood type might be. (After reading the article, I'm still not sure what a catalogue refers to in this context--is it a catalogue of possible typefaces one could render in wood type?) Bits that pulled my attention when reading included the info on dabbing and the info about how wood type was both common in ancient (when?) China and then used (much?) later for missionaries' posters brought to the country. I'd love to see one or two alt hooks that incorporate some of these hookier facts if you have the time.
QPQ: Done.

Overall: I'm not super familiar with the world of printing, so it wasn't immediately clear what "wood type" was just by looking at the hook. There are lots of great photos in the article--would you consider including e.g., this one with the nomination? —⁠Collint c 04:00, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

Bobamnertiopsis, thanks for the message! I'm going to think about some alternative hooks. And yes, catalogue means a showcase of the types he'd manufactured. Wells' specimen hasn't been digitised but Leavenworth's slightly later specimen has been. Blythwood (talk) 08:52, 13 July 2022 (UTC)
Thanks Blythwood! Give a shout if you come up with some alt hook suggestions and I'll be happy to take a look at them! —⁠Collint c 04:07, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
Bobamnertiopsis, thanks! Reading through the article and sources and looking at what I can come up with. Blythwood (talk) 20:07, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
@Blythwood: Have you come up with any ALT hooks? Z1720 (talk) 01:32, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
Z1720, ugh, I'm sorry about the delay on this. Lately I've been quite busy with work which has sidetracked me. I should have a new hook and sourcing for it done tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me. Blythwood (talk) 23:49, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
Thanks Blythwood, and no worries! I'll keep an eye out for it in the coming days. —⁠Collint c 00:47, 1 August 2022 (UTC)
It's added now-I thought your idea was a great one and added a set of sources on Chinese use. Thanks for the patience. Blythwood (talk) 22:58, 1 August 2022 (UTC)
Thanks Blythwood. With this, the "invented in China" looks good. I'm not sure the article quite supports "first mass-produced in the United States" yet, as you mention variously that "William Leavenworth in 1834 added a second major innovation of the pantograph. This made it possible to mass-produce the same design in wood repeatedly" in the lead and "William Leavenworth in 1834 introduced the pantograph, allowing the same form to be reproduced from a pattern, and most wood type produced since has been made using a pantograph or later using die-cutting" in the body, but it's not clear that this represented the first mass production, nor that it took place in the U.S. Could that be tidied in the text just a little to support the assertion? Finally, "later exported back to China for use by missionaries" is supported by p. 76 in the Kelly ref. Also were you interested in including the lead image (File:Wood Type close-up (cropped).jpg) in the hook at all? Thanks! —⁠Collint c 02:28, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
Fair enough. I've clarified in the article what I mean by mass production: cutting using power tools by machine, not hand-cutting with a chisel. (I thought about "machine-cut" or similar wording in the hook but decided against it, there's a lot of manual work involved.) And clarified to "wood type for printing" and added the picture. Blythwood (talk) 20:24, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
ALT2 looks good and is supported by the text and the citations. The image is CC-BY-SA 2.0 and used in the article, so we're good to go! Striking ALT0 and ALT1. Thanks for working with me on this Blythwood! —⁠Collint c 13:52, 5 August 2022 (UTC)
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