title: International Typographers' Secretariat
text: # International Typographers' Secretariat
  
  The International Typographers' Secretariat (ITS) 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:
  
  | Union | Country | Membership |
  | - | - | - |
  | Austrian Association of Printers' Unions | Austria | 14,856 |
  | Belgian Book Printers' Union | Belgium | 3,245 |
  | Bulgarian Typographical Union | Bulgaria | 300 |
  | Danish Typographical Union | Denmark | 3,470 |
  | French Typographic Federation | France | 11,453 |
  | Finnish Typographical Union | Finland | 1,626 |
  | Hungarian Printers' Mutual Benefit Association | Hungary | 6,575 |
  | Italian Printers' Union | Italy | 12,216 |
  | Luxembourg Printers' Union | Luxembourg | 126 |
  | Norwegian Central Union of Book Printers | Norway | 1,882 |
  | Romanian Gutenberg Printers' Union | Romania | 424 |
  | Swedish Typographers' Union | Sweden | 5,949 |
  | Swiss Typographers' Union | Switzerland | 3,139 |
  | Typographical Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 166 |
  | Typographical Society of Serbia | Serbia | 227 |
  | Typographical Union of Romantic Switzerland | Switzerland | 817 |
  | Union of German Book Printers | Germany | 59,027 |
  
  ## General Secretaries
  
      1893: Gottfried Reimann
      1896: Friedrich Siebenmann
      1902: Pierre Stautner
      1921: Fritz Verdan
      1926: Hans Grundbacher
      1947: Gottfried Reinhard (acting)
  