In reply to:

The boys who worked as assistants to printers were called "printer's devils" because they got ink on their faces from carelessness, as well as on their hands.

Thanks for this story, wwh.

Suededevil. I first read it as "Sue, de devil," but later realized Sue was male, not female, so I began to read it as "Suede Devil," but had no idea what "suede devil" might be. After all, as wwh has pointed out, there were printers' devils, so perhaps there could be counterparts in the preparation of suede.

But I like this sue as verb proposition--I like the idea of "Sue the devil."

I hope Suede will explain the name.