Oh, I had about 8 drawers of type in a heavy, rolling stand...and a wooden box of 'pied' type... (it means 'piled in a heap')... which I would occasionally sort thru when I needed one more 'k'. Picture 100 lbs of tiny, loose pieces of lead...some damaged... and me, trying to locate ONE letter.

I went to the foundry..once... to buy a couple of fonts, and it was like walking back 100 years! Guys in back room with old furnaces and arcane machinery.....and it 'happened' to be almost lunch time when I was there, and the old man walked to the door and pulled a rope, which ran thru the wall tied to a bell, to tell them it was lunch time!

Yeah... document those old places, kat... they are a dying art.