Printer's devil

A printer's devil was an apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type. A number of famous men served as printers' devils in their youth, including Ambrose Bierce, William Dean Howells, Benjamin Franklin, Raymond C. Hoiles, Samuel Fuller, Thomas Jefferson, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Joel Chandler Harris, Warren Harding, Lawrence Tibbett, John Kellogg, Lyndon Johnson, Hoodoo Brown, James Hogg, Joseph Lyons, Albert Parsons and Lázaro Cárdenas.

The origin of printer's devil is not definitively known. Various competing theories of the phrase's origin follow.

Printer's devil has been ascribed to parts of printer's apprentices' skin inevitably being stained black by the ink used in printing. As black was associated with the "black arts", the apprentice came to be called a devil.

Another origin is linked to the fanciful belief among printers that a special devil (see the typographical personification Titivillus) haunted every print shop, performing mischief such as inverting type, misspelling words and removing entire lines of completed type. The apprentice became a substitute source of blame and came to be called a printer's devil by association.

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