International Typographers' Secretariat


The International Typographers' Secretariat was a global union federation bringing together unions of printers around the world.

History

An International Typographical Congress was held in Paris in July 1889, and this led to a determination to form a permanent organisation. This was established in Bern in 1892, as the International Printers' Secretariat. It held further congresses in Geneva in 1896, Lucerne in 1901, Paris in 1907, and Stuttgart in 1912.
In 1939, the federation agreed to merge with the Lithographers' International and the International Federation of Bookbinders and Kindred Trades. However, due to World War II, no progress was made until 1946, when the British Printing and Kindred Trades Federation established a committee which drafted a constitution for a merged organisation. This was established in 1949, as the International Graphical Federation.

Affiliates

As of 1910, the following unions were affiliated to the federation:
UnionCountryMembership
Austrian Association of Printers' UnionsAustria14,856
Belgian Printers' UnionBelgium3,245
Bulgarian Typographical UnionBulgaria300
Danish Typographical UnionDenmark3,470
French Typographic FederationFrance11,453
Finnish Typographical UnionFinland1,626
Hungarian Printers' Mutual Benefit AssociationHungary6,575
Italian Printers' UnionItaly12,216
Luxembourg Printers' UnionLuxembourg126
Norwegian Central Union of PrintersNorway1,882
Romanian Gutenberg Printers' UnionRomania424
Swedish Typographical UnionSweden5,949
Swiss Typographical UnionSwitzerland3,139
Typographical Society of Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia-Herzegovina166
Typographical Society of SerbiaSerbia227
Typographical Union of Romantic SwitzerlandSwitzerland817
Union of German Book PrintersGermany59,027

General Secretaries