Conference Captures 'Fellowship' Spirit

An exhilarating level of enthusiasm overwhelmed participants at the fourth biennial conference of the American Typecasting Fellowship at Washington, D. C., June 21-24, 1984.

A well-organized program coordinated by Stan Nelson provided a most stimulating atmosphere, yet the exchange between participants equalled the formal "structured" program.

In the truest sense of the word, the "fellowship" of ATF came into full bloom at this conference, and as never before, information, techniques, and procedures were exchanged among the 70-plus participants from the United States, England, Canada, Austria, and Germany.

Most exciting of all were the many new faces present. Only 14 of the 35 persons who attended the first conference six years ago, were present at the Washington meeting. Best of all, the new faces also were younger faces.

An informal poll taken by Harold Berliner of Nevada City, Calif., revealed that seven or eight persons had actually put casting equipment into operation since the Oxford conference in 1982.

Equally encouraging was the high level of excellence exhibited by many individuals at the conference. Having equipment is one thing, but putting it to good use is another and the latter is definitely being done by many ATF members judging from the keepsakes exchanged.

The cordial atmosphere presented by Stan Nelson and Elizabeth Harris of the Smithsonian Institution provided a perfect backdrop for all which transpired. Stan's excellent arrangements kept the program on or ahead of schedule at all times, and his selection of accommodations and facilities was excellent. From check-in Thursday afternoon to a visit to Stan's Altier Press at his home in Columbia, Md., on Sunday, all went well.

Presentations included "In Praise of Hot Metal" by Warren Chappell, "Linecasting, An Ingenious Solution," by Stan Nelson, "Memories of Monotype" by John Dreyfus, "The Private Typefoundry as a Business," by Harold Berliner, "Lettercutting at the Pie Tree Press" by Jim Rimmer, "State of the Art" by Paul Hayden Duensing, "The Bruce Foundry" by Stephen 0. Saxe, "Wood Type Trans-Atlantic" by Elizabeth Harris, and "A Brief Look at the Typographic Collections of the Museum of American History" by Stan Nelson.

Some of these presentations were made from written manuscripts and as those are polished and forwarded, they will be presented in the ATF Newsletter. This issue includes text of a talk pre- sented by Steve Saxe.

Another unexpected treat at the conference was the bundle of keepsakes presented by various persons attending. The pieces included a 12-page hand-set and hand-printed leaf done by the gentlemen at Colonial Williamsburg, various reproductions of early Monotype literature, specimens of press work and casting activity, patent drawings for the Bruce typecaster, discussion of current activities such as the acquisition of 55 tons of type by Ian Mortimer from the once-great Curwen Press in London, to a 30-page book Monotyped and printed by Harry Bollinger of Alden, Mich. The packet itself creates an excitement about the present state of our fascinating hobby and if you get opportunity to look over these keepsakes, don't miss the chance. 3

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Some Information on Back Issues for You and Bibliographers

With apologies to bibliographers, the following explanation of past ATF Newsletters is offered both as an explanation and as a matter of information to those frequent requests for back issues of the publication. All back issues listed as available are $3.00 postpaid in the U.S.

With this publication, ten issues have been completed. About half the pressrun of issue No. 9, printed in May, 1984, was improperly labeled "Number 11." The comp explains that to be wishful thinking, abruptly discovered after half the run had been completed.

Number 1, published in August, 1978, contained 8 pages 8¾x 11 inches. Six of those pages were reproduced from the 1953 American Type Founders catalog which listed all "unclassified faces" in the ATF vaults at that time. About 8 copies remain.

Number 2, published January, 1979, contained 6 pages 8¾xll inches. No copies left.

Number 3, published July, 1979, contained 10 pages. It was the first to be sized 7x10 inches. This issue contains a listing of matrices made by the Thompson Company before it was absorbed by Lanston Monotype. No copies left.

Number 4, published March, 1980, contained 8 pages 7x10 inches. Several copies left.

Number 5, published May, 1980, contained 4 7x10 pages and included an article on the Unitype. Only 8 copies remain.

Number 6, published May, 1981, contained 20 7x10 pages and included an 8-page supplement giving a photographic review of our visit to American Type Founders Company. Many copies remain.

Number 7, published February, 1982, contained 20 pages 7x10 and included several half-page forms contributed by members explaining their own typecasting activities. Only six left.

Number 8, published January, 1983, had 16 pages 7x10, including articles on the Gujarati Type Foundry in India and the Paige Typesetter. Fourteen copies remain.

Number 9, published June, 1984, contained 32 pages 7x10 inches. The issue includes a photo supplement detailing a tour of the Monotype International plant in England. Several copies (improperly numbered "11") available.

As with all other matters relating to this Newsletter, address your letters to Richard L. Hopkins, Box 263, Terra Alta, W. Va. 26764. Back copies will be distributed on a first come, first-served basis. 3

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A Sterling Type Foundry Partner

In the last issue, we failed to mention David W. Peat as co-owner of the Sterling Type Foundry. Dingbats and numerous ornaments are available. Write P. 0. Box 50234, Indianapolis, Ind. 46250. The cutoff rule above came from the new Sterling Type Foundry. 3

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Complete Alphabet Showings of Two Original Metal Designs Are Revealed by Jim Rimmer

Jim Rimmer's spirited presentation of how he makes his own type designs in lead generated great enthusiasm at the recent Washington conference. The presentation followed on the heels of his "how I do it" article in the last ATF Newsletter, wherein he gave a partial showing of his Juliana Oldstyle design.

As is obvious by the typeform accompany- fog this article, Jim has kept himself quite busy, having now completed both Juliana and a sec, ond, fascinating face called Nephi Mediaeval.

"The conference itself, and the people who attended were all so nice and generous," Jim recounts. "Their enthusiasm has really put a dent in my tinwork, I can tell you! In our city-indeed in our country-there is not nearly as much receptiveness to any kind of accomplish, ment. In fact, in Vancouver, Gerald (Giampa) and I can't even get our stuff accepted by the local group of printers and academics to their annual book show. I don't know what it takes to achieve this, because I have been handling type since I was 13, and Gerald has too.

"On another note: I have been so inspired by the meeting in Washington, that I started another typeface as soon as I had gotten my breath enough to start work on it. This face is named 'Fellowship'."

The letters here are samples of the first to be cast. He also notes that his Juliana Oldstyle is now complete in 18, 24, 36 and 48 pt.-breathtaking accomplishments indeed. 3

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Linotype is the Subject of Dissertation

In November, the Hill & Dale was honored by a brief visit by Corban Goble of Berea, Ky. Corban had just gotten approval (at Indiana University) on his disseration entitled "Obituary of a Machine: The Rise and Fall of the Linotype Machine for Newspaper Production." He now is seeking a publisher and we wish him success so that this valuable, well-documented text will , receive the wide audience it deserves. Congratulations, Dr. Goble!3

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The Bruce Legacy to Typefounding

This is the text of a presentation made at the 1984 ATF Conference in Washington, D. C.

The remarkable story of the Bruce type foundry starts in Scotland where David Bruce was born in 1770. As a boy he was a printer's apprentice in Edinburgh, and emigrated to America in 1793. In New York he found a job as a newspaper pressman and then moved on to Philadelphia. From there he sent for his younger brother George, who was in danger of being drafted into the British army. George arrived in Philadelphia in 1795 at the age of 14, and became friendly with two fellow Scots who owned the only type foundry in the country, Archibald Binny and James Ronaldson, and the press maker Adam Ramage.

An outbreak of yellow fever forced them to leave Philadelphia, and they worked as printers for a while in Albany. Eventually they decided on the greener pastures of New York, and they made the trip on foot. In New York they con tinued working as journeymen printers. I suppose the term journeymen might be taken in a literal sense here, because they shuttled back and forth from New York to Philadelphia for a while. But the urge to be their own masters was strong, and before long, David set up an inkmaking factory, but the enterprise failed for lack of capital. Finally, in 1805, they set up a printing office in rooms previously used by a Tory printer named James Rivington, who is believed to have been a spy in the employ of George Washington. With a single rented Ramage press and borrowed type, they began work as D. & G. Bruce, Printers.

Their excellent work and competitive prices brought them success. Within three years they had nine presses from Adam Ramage working in a larger office, and they were the biggest printing firm in the city. Both men were hardworking, persevering, and ingenious, but in other ways they were totally different. David, the elder, was impetuous and fiery-tempered, while George was always cool and controlled.

In 1812, after news of the new process of stereotyping reached America from England, David Bruce set sail with letters of introduction to the Earl of Stanhope, with the expectation of learning the art. Stanhope refused to divulge anything, but Bruce learned what he could from other sources and returned to New York to experiment on his own.

There was one great stumbling block to the Bruces' efforts-the type of their day was badly suited to stereotyping. The beard sloped at a long angle into the body of the type, rather than having squared shoulders as it does now. Plaster casts made from the old type were covered with long peaks of plaster which caused great difficulty. In addition, spaces and quads were too low.

When the Bruces approached the typefounders-and there were not many they could turn to at the time-the founders refused to cast the special type for them, reasoning that stereotyping would reduce the demand for the type they manufactured.

With characteristic industry, the brothers decided to cast their own. In 1813, with the help of typefounder Edwin Starr and his two brothers, they started typefounding as the firm of Bruce & Starr. Thus they became the third continuing foundry in the United States, following Binny & Ronaldson in 1796 and Elihu White in 1811 or 1812.

They were successful again in this new venture, although differences with the Starr brothers led to the dissolution of Bruce & Starr after a year. In 1816 the Bruces sold off the printing part of their business, and henceforth devoted themselves exclusively to letter-founding and stereotyping-two trades that often were paired in the early 19th century.

The firm of D. & G. Bruce, Letter Founders, began issuing specimen sheets in 1813, and the first bound book was sent to customers in 1816. In 1818 the Bruces issued a type specimen bound into Cornelius Van Winkle's Printers' Guide, the first important printers' manual published in this country. In the same year, they moved into a large building of their own at the crossroads of Centre and Chambers streets, a short distance from City Hall. The foundry remained there until the end of the century.

By 1820 the Bruces were able to produce a 58-page specimen. It was printed on dampened paper, of course, on one side of the sheet, and probably on a wooden Ramage press. In this book they uncharacteristically boasted of the superiority of their type to that of the foundry of their friends of their Philadelphia days, Binny & Ronaldson. The specimen showed a number of the latest display faces in large sizes. These probably were cast in brass matrices.

David Bruce was afflicted with ill-health, and in 1822 he retired to his farm in Bordentown, New Jersey. George Bruce took full control of the foundry, and soon afterward he dropped the stereotyping part of the business. He preferred to devote his energies to what for him was as much a pleasure as a business-the art of typefounding. Before this period he had been a dashing widower in white-topped boots and ruffled sleeves and shirt fronts, the owner of a fast horse and a pleasure boat. Now he devoted ·himself to minding his foundry's business and designing and cutting new typefaces.

In 1822 he became the first American to try to make sense out of the progression of type sizes. He devised a system of mathematical progressions, with each size of type about 12 per cent larger than the previous one and the sizes doubling each seventh time. Although the system was ingenious and logical, it did riot catch on except for agate, a new type size Bruce devised for it. Agate (5¼ points), of course, is still with us as a measure of advertising space.

David Bruce Jr. now enters the picture. In my estimation, he is certainly the most interesting and productive figure in American typefounding. He was a first-class type' designer and punch cutter, the inventor of the first successful casting machine, and the unofficial historian of American typefounding, writing anonymously for many years for the various typographical trade periodicals. David Bruce Jr. was born in 1802. As a young man he was apprenticed to a printer-the traditional Bruce starting point. His first work for the family type foundry was cutting brass mats for large display letters from 5 to 15 lines pica, in the days before wood type was available.

The ornate designs of Victorian types were causing difficulty in hand casting. The great number of spidery lines and shadings made it difficult to force the type metal into all parts of the matrix. In 1834 David Bruce Jr. first introduced the use of a force-pump with the hand mold, and clearly the next step would be a typecasting machine. Other inventors, several at the rival foundry of Elihu White in New York, had spent a great deal of money over a long period of time trying to develop a practical typecaster.

Although George Bruce adopted the force-pump, he did not approve of his nephew's experimenting around the foundry. David was forced to leave the firm for two years, abandoning his share of the profits, to work on the machine in the seclusion of his father's farm in New Jersey.

By 1838 he had succeeded in making a machine which would cast type that was not too porous for use-the main drawback of all the previous machines. George Bruce bought the patent for his foundry, and hired a former locksmith, Lauritz Brandt, to build the machines. By 1845 Brandt was off in Europe, selling the machine as his own. As late as 1963 in the Printing and the Mind of Man Catalogue the Bruce machine is mislabelled as the "Brandt caster" instead of the Bruce caster.

If anyone doubts that Brandt was a villain, he will have no doubts after the next scene. In 1843 David Bruce patented his improved machine, No. 2. His uncle had the right of first refusal, and George Bruce asked Brandt to judge its usefulness.

Unknown to the inventor, Brandt told the uncle that he saw nothing to warrant the purchase of the new machine. My guess is that he feared the new model would compete with his sales of the original machine in Europe.

At any rate, after his uncle's rejection, David Bruce Jr. turned to his friends at the Boston Type Foundry. They worked with him to give the new model a thorough testing. It succeeded admirably, and the Boston Type Foundry became the agency by which machine typecasting spread throughout the United States and Europe. The Bruce caster could produce an average of 100 types a minute; a hand caster could do no better than about 15.

The time was ripe for the casting machine and its use spread rapidly. Miller & Richard was the first British foundry to install the machine, in 1849. Within 25 years of its invention there were about 125 of them in use in New York City alone-no doubt a large number of these were in the Bruce foundry, which had rejected the invention when it was offered.

Apart from his inventions, David Bruce Jr. was the designer and cutter of several typefaces including Madisonian and Hancock scripts, Rimmed Shaded, and also music type, borders and ornaments. He established type foundries of his own in 1840 and in 1846 to produce and sell type made on his casting machines. Neither business lasted very long. His articles about typefounders and typefounding are source material now for those trying to reconstruct the history of the industry. Bruce wrote out his reminiscences in his History of Typefounding in the United States, which was edited by James Eckman and published by the Typophiles in 1981.

The foundry's specimens grew from small paper-bound booklets to large hard-bound books. The first quarto book, about 9 by 11, was issued in 1865. It cost over $20,000 to print and bind, and the type shown represented the use of over 100,000 punches and matrices.

For some time we have been aware of the pirating of type designs that started after the introduction of the electrotyped matrix in 1843 and the typecasting machine in 1845. As David Bruce Jr. himself wrote in 1858: "An indiscriminate plundering took place, commencing among some of the minor foundries, upon the older and more extensive establishments, the conscientious proprietors of which, after growling forth in vain their virtuous indignation at such dishonorable conduct, boldly threw off their coats, rolled up their sleeves, and made a wholesale appropriation of whatever was worth stealing in any direction from each other...."

However, in addition to this transatlantic piracy, there was also a trade in matrices that is not generally noticed today. In 1841 John Binny, the son of the Bruce's old friend Archibald Binny, offered the Bruce foundry the drives (unfitted copper matrices) of whatever faces he desired, at reasonable prices. And this was not an isolated instance, because we know that in 1861 George Bruce offered drives for 137 of his faces to European foundries, at prices ranging from 45 cents each for text faces to $1.25 each for scripts. This commerce in drives, which had been a part of European printing history since the earliest days, seems also to have continued in this country long after the introduction of the typecasting machine.

Meanwhile, following the Civil War, the Bruce foundry was prospering. George Bruce had long since become a rich man, acquiring sawmills and other properties in New York and New Jersey. He became president of the Mechanic's Institute and an early member of the New-York Historicai Society. But he was happiest seated in his old red chair, cutting punches for a new font of type. He became famous in the trade for the quality of his work, and especially for the Bruce Penman Copperplate Script, which was considered the most elegant made. His double small pica size of the script received the first U. S. design patent in 1842, the year the new patent law went on the books.

A specimen page of one of his scripts was once set up and a proof brought to him for approval. It read, "The plain Capitals for this Cannon Copperplate Script, are unequaled in elegance by any other font of writing type." Bruce wrote on the bottom of the proof, "Oh! Will Truth excuse such vanity?" and the compositor, thinking it was an additional line, set it and it was so printed and issued to the trade.

His last set of punches was a great primer Copperplate Script cut at the age of 78, two years before he died in 1866. The foundry was then under the direction of his son, David Wolfe Bruce. The name of the firm became George Bruce's Son & Co.

The Bruce specimens were printed by Francis Hart & Co., one of the finest printing firms in New York. Since type founders always wanted to show off their product to the best advantage, these olc;l specimens often were examples of the best printing available, from the best type. A member of the Hart firm was Theodore Low DeVinne, who became a good friend of the Bruce family and who began providing copy for the Bruce specimen books. His copy usually dealt with the history of printing and its related arts. His work can clearly be seen in the 1869 specimen. Some pages remained intact through succeeding editions, and turn up as late as the year 1882.

In that year the foundry issued its unrivalled specimen book, which Henry L. Bullen once described as "the most notable type specimen book ever issued, anywhere." This specimen book was edited by De Vinne from beginning to end, and all the text deals with the history of printing. As mentioned earlier, some pages went back to the 1860s.

Bound into the volume was the full text of DeVinne's book, The Invention of Printing, first published six years before. In this instance each page was set in a different size or style of type and it thus became a specimen in itself.

In 1890 David Wolfe Bruce retired and sold his interest in the firm to three long-term employees, Robert Lindsay, Henry M. Hall, and Vilinder B. Munson. Lindsay died the following year and the others struggled to keep the firm going against the competition of the Linotype and other foundries. In 1892 they declined to join 23 other typefoundries· in forming the American Type Founders' Co. Bruce's main New York rival, the Conner foundry, did join and became New York manufacturer for ATF.

In 1900 the firm issued its last specimen book before it gave way and became part of ATF. However, the Bruce type foundry name continued to be used for another six years. There was another great upheaval for the foundry at the turn of the century, for it had to move from Chambers Street to make way for the huge New York City Municipal Building that was erected on the site. The foundry operations moved to a narrow building on Great Jones Street that is still standing. With a bit of whistling in the dark, the firm advertised that it intended to remain on Great Jones Street for another century, unless forced to move to larger quarters by the volume of business. Alas, it was not to be, and within a couple of years all activity ceased and Bruce's New York Type Foundry disappeared from view.

Now, almost 80 years later, the only traces of that once-flourishing company are a few type specimen books, a branch of the New York Public Library named in honor of George Bruce (is it the only library named after a typefounder?) and a few fonts of type with the pinmark, "BRUCE-N.Y." 3

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Typecasting Activities, Publications Noted

Harold Berliner's Typefoundry Issues Excellent Type Specimen Study

Monotype Composition Faces, just released by Harold Berliner's Typefoundry, 224 Main St., Nevada City, Calif. 95959, gives exciting evidence that the very best in metal composition still is available from a typefounder who obviously cares about perpetuation of the finest traditions of our letterpress craft.

It's been years since a publication of this nature has been produced to (a) show the face in sample page composition, (b) give a brief history of the face, and (c) provide a study of its most unique characteristics. Harold Berliner does just this with no fewer than 29 different composition faces available from his foundry.

The volume is an excellent, current reference on hot-metal composition faces and would be a most valuable tool for any serious private press printer. The composition service offered by the foundry is an excellent way for private presses to get lengthy manuscripts into type, and the foundry encourages this sort of work.

Harold Berliner notes "the Monotype Corporation of England, the developer of the finest and most up-to-date laser equipment for cold typesetting, has not forgotten its hot metal users. For them it developed the "272 computer system" to make the tapes in a thoroughly modern way. We have one, and it allows us to produce work on traditional casters in very quick turn-around time which is superior in many ways than anything which could be made on the old pneumatic keyboards."

You should write to Harold for prices on this and many other noteworthy publications which have been issued by the foundry. Of especial note is his A Garden of Printers' Flowers, which shows hundreds of ornaments which can be supplied by the foundry.

Type Being Imported from Hong Kong

Sylvan Kamm, operating as The Oedipress, 3503 Rodman Street, Washington, D. C. 20008, is now importing type from a Hong Kong type foundry which casts many early American designs. Parsons and Parsons Italic are included. Persons interested in obtaining his catalog and price list should write to him.

Duensing Engraves Zapf's Civilite

Paul Duensing of 10180 East U Avenue, Vicksburg, Mich. 39097 has been working with Hermann Zapf and has engraved matrices for Zapf's new hot-metal creation, a Civilite design, to be introduced in the 10th anniversary edition of Fine Print in January, 1985. The mats were engraved in brass blanks and Paul did trial castings of all letters for review, revision, and ultimate approval by Zapf. Details as to whether the face will be commercially available are not known at this time.

Rice Electroforms His Own Matrices

Roy Rice continues his work in developing procedures and actually electrodepositing mats for use on his Monotype Thompson Caster. Instead of depositing the entire matrix, he has now developed a process for depositing only the core of the matrix into a brass blank, much in the way Lanston Monotype once made its matrices. "I use a blank with a hole routed in it a few points larger than the body of the type, and put a piece of thin paper under the type when making up the assembly. All this is stuck together with Super Glue, coated with wax and then plated. It seems to be working like a champ and is a little more economical of anodes. The main advantage, though, is that finishing is simplified-thus, a bit quicker." Samples:

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McGrew's Compilation of Lanston Monotype Matrices Alphabetized

As far as is known, a complete, comprehensive listing of Lanston (U.S.A.) Monotype designs were never published. The list below was compiled from several sources by Mac F. McGrew of Pittsburgh, Pa., and will be among the goodies in his upcoming book on twentieth-century American metal type designs. The list, in numerical order, was published in the last Newsletter. The alphabetical list is found here. 3

McGrew's Lanston Monotype Matrices PDF List

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The 'Myth' About Metal Hardness

The subject of hardness of type has been tossed about ever since typefounding became a competitive enterprise, especially after the turn of the nineteenth century. One could suggest the subject has been fully discussed and needs no further examination, but informal discussions at the most recent ATF conference indicate otherwise.

This article will be surprisingly nontechnical; it is intended more for the user of type because it is the user who is more concerned with the subject.

May I suggest that the term "hard foundry type" is as nebulous as the term "extra firm" as it relates to mattresses?

Let's go on a merry-go-round. What is foundry type? Well, it's type cast in a foundry. So what is a foundry? Obviously, a place wherein type is cast. We have gotten nowhere because the equipment itself does not assure excellent type.

Yes, the Bruce caster (the first successful typecasting machine invented), the Barth caster (used exclusively by the American Type Founders), as well as the various "foundry" casters used in England and Europe, all have the potential for casting better type because they have the potential for moving metal under greater pressure. That is, if everything is going well. But that isn't always the case.

In my shop, I have some very lousy type cast by such giants as MacKellar, Smiths and Jordan, Barnhart Brothers and Spindler, and others--founders who boasted of having the hardest type made.

I was startled when Will Rueter began exclaiming over the hardness of type I had cast for him a couple of years ago. "It's really good, hard type," he said. But it was cast on a Monotype Sorts Caster and I know from using that machine that there are thousands of ways to make lousy type on a Sorts Caster-especially larger type.

This leads to my first statement: Type of good quality can be made on virtually any typecasting device. That includes Monotype composition casters, Thompsons, Giants, Super Casters, the Bruce, the Barth-even the hand mold!

All typecasting devices share the same problems. They have to get the metal into the mold, they have to get the metal to fill every tiny part of the face of the letter, and they have to somehow get rid of the air filling the mold cavity.

I have no knowledge of the metal formula for the "stock" I use in my shop. It all is old Monotype metal, except for a few Linotype slugs and Ludlow slugs, and a few cans here 'n there of old ATF type. My highly scientific formula is to either use Monotype metal exclusively, or mix Lino and ATF equally when using those metals to come up with something remotely resembling the Mono formula. I never have gone to the expense of having my metal analyzed and never will. I have no way of smelting all my metal at one time, and that means that the "formula" will vary as I melt more old type.

Obviously, the typefounder should be careful to keep foreign metals such as zinc or aluminum out of his pot, and to keep the pot relatively free of dirt.

I suggest that primary concern should be on proper operation of the machine rather than on the metal formula being used. Improper machine operation will assure bad type no matter what metal is being used in the pot.

Likewise, it is my strong suggestion that users should learn how to handle type because damage and unacceptable wear generally are created by the user, not the founder. I have had experience in hot metal shops where steel galleys full of type have been stacked on top of one another with no cushion between. I have seen men come down with a plane and mallet on a form with the strength necessary to drive a railroad spike. I have seen folks toss type into a typecase with no concern about how it lands. And I have seen automatic presses feed five or more sheets at once, pulling impressions heavy enough to make a stereo matrix.

User lesson No. 1: Type is fragile no matter how "hard"it is. Always start with a light impression on your press and slowly build up. Always protect the face of your type. Never put anything-even a makeup rule or a pica pole-on top of a type form. Be very careful when you do plane a form, and always sweep the stone and the underside of the form before you plane the form. When you distribute type, make a concentrated effort to have it land on its feet, not its face-or the face of a piece of type already in the case.

Lesson No. 2: Keep used type segregated. Those who use a lot of hand type should make an effort to keep type used once in the first case, type used twice in another case, virgin type in a third, and so forth. Distributing in appropriate cases will assure all the type in a case has equal wear and this will simplify makeready and decrease wear on type caused by too heavy impression to bring up the

"Getting the casting machine to function properly should assure durable, usable type with little concern for the metal formula."

worn letters. A new font never should be laid in a case of old type. Keep type separate. If you don't, you'll beat down the new type trying to get the old stuff to print properly.

And put carpeting on the fioor around your composing stand. You are going to drop type and when you do, the carpet may save it from damage.

Lesson No. 3: Keep in mind that certain materials will cause quick wear. Some papers are as abrasive as sandpaper. Laid and textured papers necessarily force a heavier impression, and thus, heavier wear. Cylinder presses roll down the edges of type more quickly than a platen. Antique ink balls and similar devices will cause excessive wear. Synthetic rags abrade the type form more than cotton. On and on the story goes.

Finally, sad as this revelation may be, all type if it is used will eventually wear out. We all know this—we just sometimes refuse to accept it.

Again, getting a casting machine to function properly-to cast fairly solid type with a nice shiny face-should be the typefounder 's first objective. If this is accomplished, it will be useful, long-lasting type and the metal formula will have had surprisingly little to do with the results. 3

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The Why of Lead, Tin & Antimony

It is only appropriate that a technical discussion of type metal accompany the commentary found on these pages. What follows is taken mostly from a booklet published by the Imperial Type Metal Company entitled Type Metal Alloys. The copy used was printed in 1927, but other editions are known to exist.

The principal metals making up all the alloys used in typecasting machines are lead, antimony, and tin. Although other metals are occasionally present, they rarely exceed one per cent of the mixture, and are introduced only to slightly modify the main elements.

Lead is the base metal to which the other elements are added. Used alone, it is too soft, and lacks many of the valuable properties needed for type purposes.

Antimony, when added to lead, has the valuable and unusual property of imparting hardness to the metal and also increasing the fluidity of the molten alloy. A lead alloy containing antimony, due to fluidity, has the property of filling out the type mold perfectly—thus giving an exact reproduction of the mold. An alloy without antimony, but containing tin and lead only, as found in solder, possesses none of the valuable typecasting properties of metal containing antimony.

Tin is the third and last principal element in type alloys, its purpose being much confused with that of antimony. Tin does not reduce the melting point of the alloy.

Type metals freeze at approximately 475 degrees Fahrenheit in all cases, whether tin is present or not. Tin does add very much to the fluidity of the alloy, however, and permits the work to be done at much lower temperatures and with more perfect results. It is for this reason that it is often regarded as having reduced the melting point, whereas it has simply increased fluidity when molten, just as certain oils thin inks. Tin causes a much slower setting of the alloy, and much too often becomes a detriment for this reason. Tin gives body to the metal, adding considerably to its toughness.

The remaining point worthy of mention, as a property of tin, is its ability to give the type its smooth, perfect face, free from "cold spots." This means a better product and type which will take ink well.

The trade in general exaggerates the effect of tin on type durability. The amount of change in hardness in metal produced by adding one to five per cent more tin is not sufficient to make imperfect pressroom manipulation produce perfect results. If hardness was as noticeable as the trade is led to believe, we could approximate the tin percentage by physical examination. But only chemical analysis can detect small changes in the percentage of tin.

Lead, when pure, melts at 621°; anti- mony melts at 1166°. Yet when one per cent antimony is alloyed with 99 per cent lead, the melting point is reduced to below 621°. Additional antimony causes still further reduction until the alloy contains approximately 12 to 13 per cent antimony, balance lead, melting at 425°. From this point on, increased antimony raises the melting point. This lowest melting point is called the eutectic point.

Type metal consumers often are deliberately misled by talk of virgin metals. The scientific valuation of the alloy is entirely a question of the purity and perfectness of alloying. Virgin metal means nothing.

Interesting note: The black material skimmed from the top of the remelting pot which often is erroneously called dirt, is an oxide of considerable value. It should be carefully saved and returned to the smelter.

Metal does not wear out. It may become low in certain elements, but given proper treatment to remove impurities and restore lost tin or lead, the metal can again be made similar to original metal.

Metal formulation, it can be concluded, is not primarily directed toward hardness. Fluidity, working temperature, and filling the mold and matrix are the vital concerns. 3

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Letters Relate Varied Activities, Interests

Groucho Marx Would Love ATF

"As you explained how the 'membership' of ATF works, I was reminded of a comment once made by Groucho Marx. He said he would never join any organization that would allow him to be a member. He would find the ATF an appealing group, I'm sure."

'A Home for Me and My Thompson'

"I am getting closer to typecasting. I have a Thompson in storage, but am negotiating for a house with a full basement under a large garage (it is built into a hill). I am anxious to begin typecasting."

Seeks Letterpress Apprentice Program

"Glad to hear that your organization is so active. Prior to finding you, I had no idea such a thing existed. I've got letters off to a few more places and hopefully, one of them knows of an apprentice setup somewhere. I do have a background in offset printing, but feel that if I want to get into what is left of the hot-metal industry, it would be best to do so on a learner basis."

Once Ran Republic Type Foundry

"I should belong to the American Typecasting Fellowship. Years ago, I operated the Republic Type Foundry in Chicago and today I am cutting punches by hand. I have two Thompson and a Washington hand press."

'Thanks for the Photography in No. 9'

"Thank you! ATF Newsletter 9 is superb. Content, design and layout, presswork-you name it-all contribute to an issue deserving of all the superlatives I can dig out of the thesaurus. Without seeming to sort out one quality above another, I'd like to compliment you especially for the fine photography. I'm sure much of it was done under difficult conditions, but the results are excellent, and add immeasurably to the enjoyment-and understanding—of the Monotype International tour and the historic Hartzell transfer to M&H."

School to Set Up Letterpress Labs

"The School of Art and Design of the New York College of Ceramics has established a new Divison of Design which will be using letterpress as a beginning to typographic studies. At the other end of the spectrum will be instruction in computer composition. However, we believe one must begin at the beginning."

'And Boy Am I Hooked Now!'

"Back when I was a little beaker, I liked to do calligraphy, as if I were a lone monk in a tower, preserving knowledge with my quill from the advancing hordes. But most of the time I'd dream up more strange exotic typefaces. Then I got interested in coins, which put me in the basement trying to figure out how to make dies for my own counterfeits. One Fall day, I went to a park with some friends and tried to melt some of Dad's hellbox metal down in one of Mom's sauce pans to cast a medallion on a piece of limestone which I'd chiseled with a screwdriver blade. It didn't work. So here comes your Newsletter with all these articles about type matrices and casting machines and boy, am I hooked ...."

Keepsakes Enliven Good Memories

"The meeting! Well, I still have not gotten over the high of the meeting. Super. I have been through the keepsakes about half a zillion times which bring back many good memories."

'Had I Known I'd Be Looking ...

"Had I known in 1969 that in 1984 I would be looking for type, I'd have cast cases galore and saved some of that equipment. Sold eight casters and four keyboards and a fine library of British mats to someone in Baltimore."

Former Lino, Mono, Comp Foreman

"For a number of years before retiring, I was in complete charge of layout, makeup and production of Monotype, Linotype, and all manners of typesetting as well as advertising production in one of the leading typesetting plants in New York City, where I started as a copy holder and apprentice in ITU Local No. 6 in 1921. If I can help in any way regarding 'old stuff,' let me know."

'99 Bottles' to the Monotype Rhythm

"I retired 12 years ago after working 42 years on the Syracuse Herald-Journal and enjoyed every day I worked at the trade. I recall one time in particular, as an apprentice when the boss and I would sing 'there's 99 green bottles hanging on the wall' to the cadence of the Monotype caster as it operated. Then, of course, there were the type lice .... "

A Sensible Subscription Figure Need

"By all means, keep your ATF Newsletter coming. The check is enclosed. What I don't understand is why you don't establish a sensible subscription figure that could help with all the problems and headaches."

He Set His First Type in 1918

"I set my first type by hand at age 10 in 1918. Later loused up an idle Intertype with my idle fingers tinkering with the keyboard. We had the best of it."

'Old Pro' Now Has Own Hobby Shop

"I have been retired since January, 1979, and have been a member of the Boston Typographical Local 13 since 1946. I have set up a small old-fashioned printing shop as a hobby in a 24x24 building back of my mobile home. Thank God I am physically OK at 68 years and I really enjoy setting up type and running my hand-fed antique jobber."

Largest Hot Metal User in the East?

"We have found it more economical to use hot metal for our annual updates. As the legislature meets and either passes or repeals laws, we make the line changes and go directly to our large flatbed Miller presses for printing. Otherwise we would have to input everything on our computerized typesetter and make new negatives and plates for each update even though there are minimal changes. We have a total of six Intertype machines, one Ludlow, and one Elrod strip machine. My guess is that we are probably one of the larger hot-metal users in New England."

A Monotype 'Empire' in England

"I am still extending my Monotype 'empire' and have recently acquired another 30 diecases of matrices. I have now about 120 diecases and about 70 boxes of outside characters. I am sure this must be the best collection of matrices in the hands of any pure amateur in the U.K. I also managed to acquire quite a lot of almost unused molds. I find that the best places from whom to collect these items are the printing teaching establishments, as the materials are in almost mint condition and have been well looked after. A few months ago, I was able to obtain from a printing school some large composition matrices and molds, which are normally very difficult to get one's hands on! Supercaster matrices are also difficult to obtain, but I've done reasonably well so far!"

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Gerald Giampa, Jim Rimmer Prepare Exceptional Cover and Insert

You cannot judge a book by its cover, nor can you judge a gift by its wrapping. In no way do the contents of this 10th issue of the ATF Newsletter measure up to the excellent work demonstrated on the cover, done by Gerald Giampa of Vancouver, B.C., who did most of the casting, designing, and all the multi-color printing of these special covers.

Most copies of the cover were printed on hand-made Dewint, English, made by Barcham Green . .Further details from Gerald reveal the metal flower under the title came from Harold Berliner's Typefoundry, and "the ornaments were either cast by me or by Jim Rimmer. Several of the matrices were made by Jim Rimmer and four were made at my instructions of cutting away some of the Granjon ornaments."

Jim Rimmer's contribution to this issue (in addition to the form on page 3), includes the onionskin insert, on which he used his Nephi Mediaeval type design.

Work on the contents was delayed until the covers were in hand, so that an appropriate typographic blend could be made. Goudy Old- style was the obvious choice to go with Gerald's Goudy Catalogue. Originally, I intended to do 12 to 16 pages and get the issue completed within the frame of the "November" found on the covers and the first sheet. But holidays and a continuing expansion of the contents eventually brought me to production completion in January, 1985, and an endeavor which includes more typesetting (in metal) than ever before-a full 24 of the 28 pages. And this time most composition is in 10 point rather than the usual 11 or 12 point. Over 350 pounds of composition were cast for this issue. Also, fonts of 12-point bold italic and a font of 24-point bold had to be cast to round out the headline schedule.

Traditionally, each issue is done in a different "face" to give air to different type designs as well as to "exercise" my matrix collection. But Gerald's choice of Goudy Catalogue caused re-use of Goudy Oldstyle, also employed in the last issue (No. 9).

Wholehearted thanks go to Gerald and Jim for their help in making this 10th issue such a landmark. Additionally, I encourage others to make similar offers of assistance, though (admittedly) we now have a tremendously high standard to live up to.

An additional note of thanks goes to Steve Saxe for making available his text on the Bruce Type Foundry, as well as the text of Warren Chappell's talk, "In Praise of Hot Metal," to be printed in the next Newsletter. Steve also supplied artwork for his illustration of the Bruce foundry.

All presswork on the contents (excepting the 4-page offset insert) was done on a 10x15 Heidelberg "windmill" using 70-pound cream Wausau Felt.

In that all pages were completely into type before printing began, the issue had the side effect of housecleaning at the Hill & Dale. Lots of standing forms were thrown in or distributed so that galley space could be made for the 24 different page forms.

Plans are already underway for the next issue. Guy Botterill has sent a form demonstrating the two types designed by Warren Chappell to illustrate his text. Hopefully, we also will have the texts from John Dreyfus and Elizabeth Harris before production begins.

As always, I encourage you to write of your activities, especially as they relate to type and typecasting. Better still send a made-up form. Your warm comments regarding my efforts with this Newsletter "keep me going." 3

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Lieberman Endowment Established

We would be remiss not to mention the passing of J. Ben Lieberman in this publication. Ben, who died September 19, 1984, was a long and energetic supporter of the concepts of "printing as a hobby" and he naturally extended that enthusiasm to "typefounding as a hobby" by being an early supporter of a joint typecasting venture by hobbyists in the suburban area where he lived north of New York.

The organization which he founded, the American Printing History Association, is seeking to make his a living legacy by establishing a Lieberman Endowment to provide a rotating lecture series devoted to topics of importance to Ben, such as the history of printing and the value of letterpress printing. Contributions to the fund are being received by Alice D. Schreyer, Chair, Lieberman Endowment Committee, APHA, P.0. Box 4922, Grand Central Station, New York, N.Y. 10163. 3

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Recent History, Yet So Very Long Ago

Consider that very little change took place in the typecasting industry from the time of Gutenberg's invention to the time when Bruce invented the pivotal typecaster-nearly 400 years. Consider too, that little more changed until Mergenthaler and Lanston came up with their inventions toward the end of that century-another 75 years.

Now consider the fact that there are many people alive today who began their careers in hand-set composing rooms. Yet today we're talking about laser typesetting of entirely formatted pages including halftones, reverses and benday tints. There's little wonder that many of us find ourselves in a startling time warp.

A few weeks ago, I ran into an acquaintance from back when I was teaching at West Virginia University. "Bucky" Buchannon was the machinist at the Morgantown newspapers, and he came to the University to help me keep my Model 31 Linotype in good operating condition whenever needed.

Buck knew the Linotype inside and out. He kept 20 of them purring at the newspaper office. He still is "machinist" at the Morgantown papers, but, as he admits, it's been nearly 15 years since he even saw an operable Linotype.

Now he's into keeping computer terminals interconnected, and is talking of the Monotype Lasercomp the company has ordered which will output fully made-up pages. Gone are the many Teletypesetter keyboarders; the pasteup folks only lasted about 10 years too. I don't know for sure, but I figure the staff in the composing room, which numbered about 40 at one time, is now about 10 folks-and they're doing larger papers all the time.

In October, James Hemingway visited from Ohio, and told of his first job hand sticking type at a type house in Columbus. He had many years of experience on the Linotype too, but now he's working with the Mergenthaler 202 system and just shakes his head when you ask about the "good old days."

One of the strongest things we with hot-metal backgrounds have is a solid understanding of the earlie processes printers had to use to get type set, and more specifically, how type should be set to get the most pleasing results. Many of us involved with the American Typecasting Fellowship have similar backgrounds, and many of us find ourselves using the modern processes in our professional lives.

Sometimes we all lose sight of the fact that two generations of printers have now grown up with no background in metal typesetting whatsoever. Recently, a woman involved in advertising typography in Cincinnati called me to talk about my now-out-of-print book on the Origin of the American Point System. She expressed total fascination with the subject and admitted that she knew nothing of the older processes printers once used. She was totally amazed when I explained that I had operable "relics" of that era in my basement, including the Monotype.

"Old" in America is equated with the word "ancient." But old typesetting equipment often still is less than 20 years old, as in the case of my Monomatics.

I am thrilled to realize there are as many of us around collecting and using this equipment as evidenced by the fact that this Newsletter now goes to over 300. We need to continue our dialogue among ourselves. But we also should make some effort to let the professional community in our own areas know of our collections and offer to ''spread the word'' to modernday printers about what their heritage really is.

Perhaps in this way we also will interest others in helping preserve that absolutely fascinating era which flourished so recently that many of us remember it very well. 3

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'Unknown' References Held in Stephen Saxe Collection

It seems that library systems of acquiring, cataloging, and referencing materials do not mesh well with the needs of persons researching the earlier days of our printing heritage. Nor are many libraries fond of acquiring newer or "different" forms of information. That's the real value in private collections, and one suchcollection must be that of Steve Saxe of 1100 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y.10028.

Being in New York gives him access to more original information, and over recent years, he has made diligent efforts to increase his holdings. On a recent visit to his place, the following relevant titles were perused:

Catalogue of Matrices manufactured by the National Compositype Company of Baltimore. Published about 1915 or 1920, it contains 208 pages showing complete ranges of many faces, 6 through 36 point.

Linograph Specimen Book, published around 1919 by the Linograph Co. of Davenport, Iowa. The 64-page book list about 40 matrix fonts.

The Thorne—an overview of how the machine operates, its keyboard arrangements, specimens of composition done on the machine and how type for the machine is made. The book, published in 1894, contains 36 pages.

More recently, Steve has purchased Stock Ledger No. 1 of the Lanston Monotype Machine Company, covering the years 1892 until 1906. He says "the book is about the size of a Gutenberg Bible. It's folio, 12 x 18 inches, 1000 pages (4 inches thick).... On glancing through it I see that Tolbert Lanston of 1101 0 St., Washington, D. C., owned well over 7,000 shares. J. Maury Dove bought a lot of stock, starting in 1897, and J. Sellers Bancroft, who perfected the machine, began buying stock in 1902.

"I haven't even started to look over all the names of stockholders, but I did notice that Mary Mapes Dodge, who wrote Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, bought 50 shares in 1902, but sold them in 1905." Surely this will be a valuable reference in future years. 3

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Nelson Perfecting Traditional Process

Stan Nelson of 8486 Hayshed Lane, Columbia, Md. 21045 continues his valiant efforts in developing matrices, molds and paraphernalia for casting types in the traditional hand-mold fashion. On visiting his foundry last, I was privileged to see punches he had engraved for stamping identification markings onto his mats -a cleaner, better-looking serifed set of numerals you will never see. Stan also continues to hand engrave his punches and provides casts of the flower printed here as evidence of his continued activity. 3

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Computer Aids Hand Composition

In this world, nothing comes as a surprise. Thus, when Harold Segal of 8949 Turton Drive, Philadelphia, Pa. 19115, and Jake Warner of 116 Rosewood Drive, Greenbelt, Md. 20770, said they wanted to work out a microcomputer program to help in making line-ending decisions for hand composition in metal type, I wasn't surprised.

Jake was the "brains" of the project, and with simple information from me regarding Monotype unit sets on the types being considered, he came up with a program in Microsoft BASIC which does just what it was intended to do. The Wordstar document is processed a line at a time with information at the end of each line indicating what units of spacing should be placed between the words. Hyphenation decisions are possible, and it also is possible to go in and alter the manuscript to get a better line ending where spacing or hyphenation is awkward.

Jake says when a comp does not have enough type to complete the manuscript before printing and distribution become necessary, the program is most helpful because exact line endings and line counts are known beforehand. Thus, pages which will "marry" in the chase can be composed and printed even before pages in between are done with no fear that count or line endings will not match.

The process is fully discussed in the December, 1984, issue of The National Amateur, published by the National Amateur Press Association. Jake offers to make the program available to those with computer equipment (and printing equipment) necessary for its proper use. 3

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Who Designed Helvetica? Gertraude Knows

Gertraude Benohr, an enthusiastic supporter of our American Typecasting Fellowship, was interviewed by THE TYPOGRAPHER while she attended our conference in Washington, D.C., this past summer. The entire interview (reprinted here) has been taken from the July/August issue of the publication, produced by the Typographers International Association, 2262 Hall Place Northwest, Washington, D. C. 20007.

A Staff Report

After 35 years as-an assistant to the president of the Stempel type foundry in Frankfurt, West Germany, Gertraude Benohr would be expected to have picked up a fascinating array of typographic trivia.

She has.

Question: Who designed Helvetica? Max Miedinger is the answer most people would give, but it's only partially true. Edward Hoffman of the Haas foundry in Switzerland was the one who had the idea for the face, and told Miedinger what he wanted it to look like.

Question: Who was the first typeface designer to develop a numbering system for the different weights of a face? Adrian Frutiger, who assigned numbers to the various versions of Univers. Fruitger, she believes, was also the first designer to design a face for phototypesetting.

These are just a few of the historical tidbits that Benohr recalled during a conversation with The Typographer. She was in the U. S. for the American Typesetting Fellowship conference, held in Washington in June.

She went to the last ATF meeting (not to be confused with the once-famous American Type Founders Co., which went by the same acronym) in Oxford, England, in 1982, and was determined enough to make it to the Washington gathering that she paid her own travel expenses. Something about the group excites her.

People who are interested in printing are interesting people, she's found. "If you're a compositor, you cannot help reading the thing you're setting. And after it's been set, you probably want to see what it looks like after it's printed. They're pretty educated."

While she denied having any special experienceon typography, a friend at the conference called her the "Beatrice Ward" of Stempel (after the Englishwoman perhaps best known for her essay comparing good typography to a fine glass of wine).

Benohr began at Stempel in 1949 because she spoke English. The managing director at the time was a friend of her uncle, who asked her if she wanted to work for the company's new president, an American who spoke no German.

Stempel itself was established by David Stempel in 1895. On a train trip to Mainz to attend a Outenberg celebration, Stempel met Jack Mayer of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, and they became quick friends. According to Benohr, this is how Stempel became the manufacturer of Linotype matrices in Germany.

Today, Stempel is majority-owned by the German Mergenthaler company, which in turn is fully American-owned. Up until about five years ago, the Mayer family owned 35% of the shares of the American Mergenthaler.

Type buffs wouldn't be surprised to hear that Stempel's best-selling typeface in the years since it was designed is Helvetica, which has a history all its own. It evolved from Edward Hoffman's desire for a style which would update and borrow from two of Europe's best-selling faces at the time, one of which was Akzidenz-Grotesk.

"He explained to Miedinger what he wanted," Benohr recalled. "Miedinger was the designer, but Hoffman was the one who really had the idea, and really told him how he wanted it to be."

The Haas foundry, now the Swiss subsidiary of Stempel, first marketed the typeface in 1957. Its original name was New Haas Grotesk.

Stempel didn't think the name would be a good one outside of Switzerland, so all kinds of suggestions were solicited before "Helvetia," the Latin name for Switzerland, was chosen. But when it was found the name couldn't be registered as a trademark because it was a proper noun, Walter Cunz, managing director of Stempel, changed it to Helvetica.

Designer Max Miedinger (pron. Mee-ding-er), who died about two years ago, was quite proud of his creation. "He was so happy when he met someone who addressed him as the designer of Helvetica," says Benohr: "Those were the happiest memories of his life."

What kind of man was he? "When I met him, he was a slightly stout, elderly gentleman who liked a little drink once in a while. He could be very funny," she remembered with a laugh. "He was very Swiss."

Although Helvetica has been very popular, Stempel decided last year to re-design every single character and also add more weights to the 30 already in existence. The re-design was launched, according to Benohr, because, "over time, tastes change and requirements change. We decided Helvetica could still be improved."

Like people, typefaces each have their own genealogy. Saban is a good example. She said that it evolved from discussions between Mergenthaler, Monotype and Stempel. What they wanted was a harmonized face that would be fully identical on the Monotype, Linotype and foundry type. It was jointly decided that the face should resemble Garamond.

Swiss designer Jan Tschichold was recruited for the effort, who had a strict idea of how he wanted it to look. "We kept discussing with him practically every single character: Sabon turned out to be a beautiful face."

While her insider's knowledge of type design may be arcane to some, Benohr has come to appreciate the incredible complexity of designing and producing typefaces.

"If you know not only how a book is written, but how it's produced, and how difficult it is to design a typeface and go through all the steps of manufacturing a typeface, you appreciate it even more. Most readers never think about the fact that it sometimes takes many months, or even years, to develop a typeface." 3

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English Member Acquires a Typograph Caster

Chris Rule in England writes and forwards this photograph to indicate that he has recently acquired a Typograph linecasting machine. He does not relate the machine's condition, but it is certainly hoped that he will be able to get the machine into operating condition.

The Typograph, invented by John R. Rogers, an American, in 1891, was not marketed in the United States primarily because Rogers' firm was ultimately bought out by Mergenthaler Linotype to secure patent rights to the spaceband. Indeed, Rogers became an important member of the Mergenthaler organization, where he remained until his death in 1934.

Buy-out in the U. S. did not forbid manufacture and distribution of the Typograph in other countries; indeed, it was marketed with success in Canada, England and Germany, with manufacturing facilities being established in each of these countries. In Germany, the Typograph was manufactured until World War II, and there were short-lived post-war revivals.

The Typograph produces a slug which was quite similar to that produced on the Linotype. Its primary differences were in its keyboard arrangement (similar to the typewriter), and the manner in which matrices were assembled and distributed.

The mats were strung on wires in an elliptical frame behind the keyboard. The wires that carried and guided the matrices converged at a point beneath the keyboard. Operation of the keyboard released the matrices to slide down their wires to the point of assembly. A rotating disc was used for line justification. After the line was cast, the operator merely raised the frame and caused all mats to slide back up their wires to await assembly in the next line.

Further details are available in Richard Huss's The Development of Printers' Mechanical Typesetting Methods, 1822-1925. We shall await further word from Chris Rule with regard to his success in getting his machine to operate. 3

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Unnecessary Machine Adjustments

As a result of the publicity received in the ITU Review, we now have several former Linotype and Monotype machinists receiving our Newsletter who have volunteered to help whenever possible. Perhaps if you write in with appropriate questions, they will help troubleshoot your equipment in future columns similar to this one.

Anyone who has ever made the fine adjustments on a Monotype composition caster's bridge-especially the two independent yet interdependent settings which allow the matrix case to descend with even pressure on the right- and left-hand edges of the mold will quickly assume such a precise setting could be disturbed easily. But such is not the case.

In casting earlier pages for this Newsletter, all was going well until I stopped momentarily. I naturally cut off the water. Problem was, when I got 'er turned back on, I forgot the water and after about 14 lines, I was (because of my inattention) casting dozens of letters blown out at the top because of the overheated mold. One gigantic mess of metal accumulated between the mold and mat case.

I had to remove the bridge to get the mess cleared away. But upon casting once more, I could not get the mats to seat properly on the mold and each letter had massive fins.

Naturally, I assumed the bridge was screwed up, so I went through the time-consuming process of adjusting everything as per the manual. After all that, upon replacing the mold in the machine, I discovered the top section of the mold blade (the part which remains closed when casting low spaces) was out of place. On disassembly, I found metal had gotten under it.

"You should thoroughly inspect the various working parts of your machine before jumping to any conclusions..."

Removal of the metal, thorough cleaning and reassembly of the mold and I was back to casting beautiful type with no fins to speak of.

It goes to prove you should thoroughly inspect the various parts of your machine before jumping to conclusions. In my case, it also was stupidity, because I went through the exact same ritual a couple of years ago, and didn't learn from the experience.

While on the subject of fins forming be- tween the top of the mold and the matrix case, a couple of observations should be made:

First, the optimum situation exists when you have brand-new matrices and a perfectly flat mold surface. The worst situation exists when you have badly worn matrices (you can tell worn matrices when the top surface of the mat is rounded instead of flat) coupled with a new mold. I have heard some Monotypers say they retain in inventory molds with the top "beat down" from excessive use just for situations when worn matrices must be used. The con- cave and convex surfaces tend to work together to reduce the fin problem.

"Ivory soap helps reduce buildup of metal on top surface of matrices..."

Most of us find ourselves in middle ground. I find my casting begins with minimal fins but they begin to increase after about half a galley. Inspection of the matrices reveals a buildup of metal on the bearing surfaces of the mats.

Herb Czarnowsky, former vice-president of Baltotype, told me to rub the mats with plain Ivory soap and that would reduce the buildup. It works and when I use soap, I can cast a full galley before having fin problems. I have tried aerosol "mold release" agents, but they complicate the problem rather than solve it.

My oldest composition caster had a blade which extended out to knock the fin off (if there was one) the top of each letter as it was delivered into the type channel. My newer caster knocks the fin off the bottom with the end of the "rule" as it is delivered into the galley. With some effort, I was able to fit the little blade on the top of the adjustable type channel block, so now I have positive action to remove fins top and bottom of the face. All the 10-point type in this issue is cast on an 11-point body and run without ledding-so it should serve as evidence that the "fin" problem has not been excessive, even though my matrices for IO-point Goudy Oldstyle are not in the best condition. 3

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More Letters

Now Has a Complete Ludlow Setup

Laurence Hines recently printed a piece for the amateur press associations describing how he obtained a new Ludlow machine complete with matrices for the Goudy Oldstyle series. The piece was hand-set in 12-point Goudy Old-style using the Ludlow. One might observe that if space constraints were severe and massive texts were not anticipated, perhaps the Ludlow would be the best way to go if one wanted new type all the time and easily handled forms too. Laurence hauled the machine from California to Arizona on a trailer behind his Volkswagen. Where there's a will, there's a way. He lives at 25 Siesta Lane, Sedona, Ariz. 86336.

'Computer Encounter is Delightful'

"Thanks for the newest ATF issue, always a special dessert. I marvel at the effort you put into this, and admire your well-written pieces. Your encounter with the computer was de- lightful. By the way, would you know where I could find a bridge for an English caster?"

Benton's Daughter Lives in Milwaukee

"Please send me two copies of the ATF Newsletter about American Type Founders. Did you know that Morris Benton's daughter lives here? She knows a surprising amount about what went on at ATF."

Australian Correspondent Reports Effort to Save Monos from Scrapheap

C. D. Fitzhardinge-Bailey, whose address is 15 Dutton St., Bankstown, N. S. W. 2200, Australia, reports "Hot metal printing here is to all extents and purposes, now dead, and it is now a case of saving what can be saved from the scrapheap. I have managed to save a few keyboards and casters, and have pulled them all down for parts, so if you hear of anyone who is stuck for British Monotype parts, you are more than welcome to give him my address, especially if they are ATF."

'My Real Love is in the Garage'

"I am a commercial printer but my real love is in my garage at home: a "hobby" printing office that is not commercial. The garage holds a G4 Intertype, 24 drawers of foundry type, a Universal 1 proof press, and a 9x13 new-style Gordon treadle press."

Stayed with Hot Metal Since 1946

"I started my company in early 1946 and have stayed exclusively with letterpress equipment to the present day. Since I am the last letterpress typesetter in this area, we do quite well with our Linotypes and Ludlows, etc."

Considering Making Own Matrices

"Incidentally, I think Gerald (my son) and I may set up an electroforming department and attempt some matrix making. I have all the mechanical facilities, so H we can get a good deposit, we just may copy some nice old existing types. At least it excites me no end!"

Definitely NOT Mimeographed

"Your ATF Newsletter received, read, and greatly enjoyed. Particularly enjoyed the text and illustrative matter on the '82 meet in England. But I enjoyed the whole issue, having re-read it several times. You call your publication a 'newsletter.' Most peoples' idea of a newsletter is a mimeographed paper. Your journal surely is not in that category."

Hot Metal Not Dead in Canton, Ohio

"Not everyone in the hot metal typesetting business is running scared into the photocomp business. I purchased my shop in 1977. At the present time we have three full-time employees and three part-time. Hot metal is not dead in Canton, Ohio."

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Media Reports: ATF Meeting, Stan Nelson

The existence of our Typecasting Fellow- ship has been announced to a far greater audience as a result of two fairly lengthy articles in trade publications reporting on our Washington conference.

Carl Schlesinger wrote one article for the ITU Review, published August 16, 1984, calling us "one of the printing industry's more unique organizations." As a result of Carl's article, several retired ITU members have written asking for subscriptions to our Newsletter and offering to give technical help to persons attempting to run or restore typecasting equipment.

Carl, who attended the Washington meet- ing, also was instrumental in the production of a movie documentary of the last night of hot metal at the New York Times. The film was shown several times in the hospitality suite at our Washington conference.

The Typographer, published by the Typographers International Association, featured a front-page article and photo in its July-August, 1984, edition. Jeoff Lindsay visited the meeting and interviewed several folks attending.

Therein, Herb Johnson of Rochester Institute of Technology, gave his comment which very well sums up the reason for ATF:

"We're at a crossroads," Herb says. "Unless we have an organization like ATF, this hot metal typesetting will be completely gone a few years down the road. We owe it to our children to preserve this, so they'll know what really made Western culture what it is."

Herb sees a hopeful sign that the younger generation will carry on the tradition-a tradition that can serve as a true education even in today's high-tech environment.

And speaking of media coverage, Stan Nelson received a two-page play in Print and Graphics, a trade publication distributed in the D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland areas. The article, published in June, 1984, discusses Stan's work at the Smithsonian Institution, as well as his deep interest and activities in punch cutting and type casting. 3

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Where to Next?

In keeping with the very loose nature of our organization, neither a location for the next ATF conference, nor a date was established at the Washington meeting this past summer.

Several locations were discussed at a Sunday morning meeting, including Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Nevada City, Calif., Indianapolis, Ind., and Frankfurt, West Germany.

The ultimate decision rests on the willingness of a person to come forth with a program and a date.

The organization's unique by-laws provide for a "meeting committee," but there is no formal procedure for selecting members of the committee. In past years, Harold Berliner, Paul Duensing, Pat Taylor, Stan Nelson, Rich Hopkins, and others have served on the committee.

David Churchman offered the Indianapolis location; Jim Rimmer and Gerald Giampa offered Vancouver; reluctantly, Harold Berliner accepted the offer of Nevada City; and Gertraude Benohr invited the group to Frankfurt.

Most likely, the meeting will be in the summer of 1986. 3

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A Brief History of Lanston Monotype

Tolbert Lanston was born in Troy, Ohio, February 3, 1844. He received a public school education until the age of 15, after which he was self-supporting. He lived in Ohio and Iowa until the Civil War broke out. The youth, still a teenager, enlisted and served throughout the conflict.

After the War, Lanston took a job as clerk in the Pension Office in Washington, D. C. Even though he spent 22 years of his life working in the U.S. Pension Office, he was able in his spare time to give expression to a remarkable inventive ability. With no formal technical training, the one-time farm boy was granted patents on a mail bag lock, hydraulic dumbwaiter, brush and comb, railroad car coupler, sewing machine, water faucet, and window sash. From these inventions he derived a moderate income and a degree of celebrity. Also during this time he obtained a law degree.

But by far his greatest contribution was a machine for setting type-a dream that had been pursued by inventors almost since the time of Gutenberg. Coincidentally, at the same time and also in Washington, D. C., Ottmar Mergenthaler was busy on the same problem. Mergenthaler's Linotype preceded Lanston's Monotype by one year, but the passage of time proved the value of both systems.

Probably Lanston's attention was directed to typesetting problems through his acquaintance with a Colonel Seaton, whose father had been of the firm of Seaton & Gales, owners of newspapers in Washington, D. C., and in Raleigh, N. C., and government printers for several years when governmental and congressional printing was done by contract. After the Civil War, Seaton became Director of the Census.

Lanston was a visitor to the Census Bureau at the time when Herman Hollerith was developing his tabulating machine. Lanston is said to have given close attention to this device, one of the first to classify and tabulate statistics by means of perforations in cards. This device surely inspired the Monotype keyboard.

As early as 1883, Lanston began formulating ideas about typesetting; he made application for his patents in 1885. Three patents were granted in 1887: one for a type forming and composing machine, another for a method of producing justified lines of type, and the third for a completely new form of type. Convinced that with this foundation, he could develop a practical typesetting machine, he resigned from his government job, organized the Lanston Type MachineCompany and assigned to it all his patents.

Although Colonel Seaton is credited with having been the first to assist Lanston financially, his place as a financial supporter was quickly taken over by J. Maury Dove, a coal merchant and capitalist, who became president of the firm and remained in that post until his death.

As the descriptions of patents above indicate, the machines Lanston first patented were not production models. It took ten years to perfect his device. For example, the 1887 machine pressed single types out of cold metal rather than casting letters. One perforated ribbon controlled the motion of devices involved in advancing, trimming, and stamping the letters into metal, while a second ribbon controlled positioning of a 196-character matrix case used for stamping the cold bars of metal. Except for the method of making the types, this first machine contained all the essential principles of later machines.

Stampmg letters into cold metal could not be done veryaccurately, nor fast enough and thus, Lanston abandoned this process after his first machine. But the first machine did have the distinction of being one of the very first with its movements controlled by electricity. The first experimental machine was made by D. Ballauf, machinist and model maker, in Washington.

A second machine switched to casting types, and the actuation was pneumatic instead of electric. The number of matrices was increased from 196 to 210. This device, which also proved impractical, was controlled by two perforated records. To increase production, it was proposed to provide the machine with three similar molds, mounted at regular intervals around the outer circumference of a rotating wheel or disk, the idea being to bring the molds successively to the casting point, and thence, to a point where the cooled type was ejected. This idea was not carried out at the time, but a quadruple machine was made and exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. It is recorded that the machine functioned very well, but that its high cost and large size were disadvantages not easily overcome.

Experimental work on the pneumatic keyboard was done in the factory of the Taft-Pierce Manufacturing Company, to which Lanston had gone with his ideas. Preliminary drawings were made in that factory under Lanston's direction. He superintended the manufacture of the earlier machines which were made in Washington. In 1896 he was awarded the Cresson Gold Medal for original invention by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia.

Dove then contracted with the William Sellers Company of Philadelphia to build 50 casters and a long course of changes and experiments ensued. In 1897 an entirely new machine, designed by John Sellers Bancroft, was produced and declared commercially practical. It was much reduced in size compared with Lanston's last machine, and its die case was limited to a partial font of 132 characters (a number thought to be sufficient for use on newspapers, the field in which the Monotype Company then expected to find its best market). It excelled previous models in speed, simplicity, and accuracy yet adhered to the basic principles set forth by Lanston. The die case was a new feature. Matrices were driven in copper and inserted in short oblong blocks of steel. A conical cavity in the foot of the matrix provided means of clamping the selected matrix over the mold. Matrices were supported in the die case by means of a horizontal wire and all matrices of a row were suspended in bearings in the die case.

This, the sixth machine, reflected much of the engineering brilliance of John Sellers Bancroft and became the basis of all subsequent models until the Monomatic was introduced in the 1960s. In succession, Lanston's machines were the "Embossing Type-Maker" of 1887, the "Triangle Monotype" of 1890, the "Second Lanston Hot-Metal Machine" of 1891, and the "Angle-End Monotype" of 1893. None of these machines resembled the machine Bancroft helped develop. Only one of each early machine was built.

Lanston and Dove were fortunate in securing, in the earlier stages of the invention, the assistance of Harold Malcolm Duncan, who had a more intimate knowledge of type composing machines and typography than either of them, and thus, was of invaluable assistance in creating the Monotype system of type composition. Duncan was named general selling agent within the United States and was responsible for the sale of about 100 limited-font machines. A caster and keyboard together cost $3,000.

The need of a factory was urgent and funds were required to purchase it. To do this, it was decided to sell patent rights for Great Britain and its dependencies (except Canada) to raise necessary capital. Thus, Dove and Duncan ventured to England with four limited-font machines. During the Atlantic crossing, they met the Earl of Dunraven, who formed a syndicate to purchase the British rights for $1,000,000, thus providing the required finances to expand U. S. activities. The Lanston Monotype Corporation was founded in England in December, 1897, the name being changed to The Monotype Corporation Ltd. in 1981, and later to Monotype International.

Early in 1898, Lanston discontinued his connection with the manufacturing department and assumed an advisory relationship with the company. In 1899 he was granted yet another patent—for an adding machine. Paralysis made him an invalid in 1910, shortly after his last patent relating to Monotype was granted. He died February 18, 1918, in Washington, D.C.

Users soon discovered that the chief fault in the machine of 1897 was the limitation of the matrix font to 132 characters. In 1899, Bancroft met this objection by building a full-font machine, using 225 characters-accommodating roman cap and lowercase, small capitals, and italic cap and lowercase, or five alphabets. Further enlargement of the matrix case would not be made in the U. S. until 1946. The most important advance in the 1899 machine was the die case positioning mechanism. In earlier devices, there were many useless movements because the die case and cooperating elements were restored to zero position after each operation. Bancroft succeeded in making every movement effective, nearly doubling the rate of production, while ensuring greater accuracy.

With needed funds secured, the American company built its own factories and, in 1901, moved from Washington, D. C., to Philadelphia.

Having established the English factory, Duncan returned to the U. S. to assist Dove. But in 1900 he returned to England in the capacity of technical managing director to put t:he corporation on its feet. He remained in that post until his death in 1924.

The next, and perhaps the most significant, improvement to the Monotype system was the keyboard. Earlier models had keybuttons arranged much as the matrix case-in rows of equal unit value. The "D" keyboard made its appearance in 1907, adopting the universal typewriter layout for the keybanks with the accompanying advantage of the touch system.

The keyboard line width was increased to 90 ems. The American company adopted a "cellular" matrix but the English firm, which by rnoi was manufacturing some of its own components, remained with the side-hole matrix.

Shortly thereafter, a "DD" keyboard was introduced with two perforating units so that a single operator could key to two measures at the same time-such as keying type for a paperback and the deluxe edition simultaneosly.

Other improvements included the provision for full-kerning characters, multiple justification of several columns of words and figures within a single justified line, new molds and better methods of cooling them, the "low quad" mold, and, soon thereafter, a method of mounting electrotypes and halftones directly on Monotype quads.

In 1911 the Monotype sorts caster was introduced, enabling the printer to once again become independent of the type foundry. This machine was capable of producing type fonts up to 86 point, quads, leads and rules, and when properly equipped, also composition. A display matrix lending library was established to provide more varied typographic designs to the printer at minimal expense.

By 1911 there were 8,500 Monotypes in use in the U.S., with 881 different matrix fonts available.

It is important here to note the heavy reliance both the Linotype and Monotype had on an invention patented in 1885 by Linn Boyd Benton, a typefounder from Milwaukee. Without Benton's pantagraph, neither firm would have been able to produce the punches necessary for making the large number of matrices used by the machines.

Lester Waldon, a Monotype casterman, invented the method of welding the joint in Monotype strip-cast material. This concept initially was applied to the Monotype sorts and rule caster mentioned above. But in 19~, the idea was applied to a new machine expressly for casting strip borders and leads and slugs-the material maker.

Two years later, in 19U, Lanston introduced the Giant Caster for making types up to 72 points in size. This device was developed by M. C. Indahl, chief engineer for the Lanston Company for many years.

After World War I, the English firm began manufacturing complete keyboards and casters, although the first English-built machines were not marketed until 19~ . From that point, the two firms slowly moved in different directions, with the English firm, as hindsight now reveals, moving more quickly to improve its product and adopt developing technology. For example, the 15x17 caster was introduced in 1925 in England, but was not introduced by the American firm until 1946. The English self-contained foundry, the Super-Caster, was introduced in 1928 while the American firm, in 1929, was buying up the old Thompson Type Machine Company to address that end of the market. The English Monophoto unit was introduced in 1955; a similar step never was made by the American firm.

Introduction of the 15x17 matrix case increased to 255 the number of matrices in a single case. Coupled with the Patton spacing attachment, which eliminated the need for blank matrices to create spaces of fixed and varying widths, the single case now could accommodate seven different alphabets. Generally, these included cap and lowercase roman, italic, and boldface, plus small capitals.

Other "improvements" included the use of electricity to heat the pots, and an automatic quadding and centering attachment which was of negligible value (it generally is disconnected on machines still in use).

In the 1920s and 1930s, Monotype equalled and surpassed type foundries with regard to type design by employing the talents of Frederic W. Goudy as art adviser to Lanston (in 1920) and, later, Sol Hess. Impressive typographic developments also were coming in England with an ambitious typecutting program under the direction of Stanley Morison, appointed typographic adviser in 1922. Designs developed abroad generally were made available to American Monotype users also. At first, Lanston-cut the designs to American depth and alignment. Later, remilled English matrices were imported. Finally, both mats and molds had to be imported to take advantage of fresh designs from England 'as the American firm began to falter.

While the English company was busy developing its Monophoto units, the American firm confined its research and development to hot metal. Wisely, the firm discontinued production of the Monotype-Thompson caster around 1964, and also the Giant Caster, but in 1961 an entirely new hot-metal composition system was introduced-the Monomatic. The Monomatic addressed problems related to Monotype composition with new processes, but its introduction was to coincide with a rush toward typewriter-like "strike-on" and photocomposition in the U.S.

Among the improvements brought by Monomatic: an increase in matrix case capacity to 324 mats-eight full alphabets; the Monomatic keyboard was completely new, having just two alphabets instead of five or seven; the use of special wedges, keybars and stopbars was eliminated because, for the first time, set width and mat case position were independent-a unit size control plate, made primarily of plastic pins, was slipped into the keyboard to change unit values and matrix case arrangements were standard regardless of what font or fonts were being used. Finally, the pump mechanism was radically changed to employ pneumatics to increase casting speed, reduce freeze-ups, and make better type.

Moving in one direction, Lanston introduced a new keyboard with Monomatic. In another direction, Lanston was trying to convert the old keyboard to punch 8-level perforated tape for driving photocomposition or linecasting machines. This strange device was called the Lanston Monoblique Computer Input Keyboard.

While English Monotype had continued to expand the capabilities of its hot-metal equipment to a 16x17 matrix case and the flexibility of handling up to 24-point type in composition, the Monomatic was restricted to 12 point as its largest size, with very limited options regarding special matrices. (Mats occupying two .2x.2 positions were made by Lanston and in England, mats occupying four such positions were occasionally used.)

Too, it apparently had many operational problems and an improved edition, called Monomatic II, was introduced around 1966. The most visible improvement was division of the matrix case into four quadrants of 81 characters each, with each quadrant independent of the other and easily removed. This allowed a complete cap-lowercase-figure-point alphabet with ligatures in each quadrant. Letters were arranged in the case with proximity related to frequency of use. Thus, motion of the matrix case was significantly decreased.

Firms which purchased Monomatic and Monomatic II indicated a difficult break-in period, but those which remained with the system did praise its quality product, once problems were worked out. But by this time, the era of commercial hot metal composition in the United States was rushing to an end. The company was successful at selling the Monomatic only to houses with long Monotype traditions, and the number of firms was rapidly diminishing. Even in these shops, the Monomatic met competition from more versatile casters imported from England. The writing was "on the wall," so to speak, as evidenced by the fact that the Monomatic II keyboard and operation manuals were done on Monophoto.

Lanston Monotype had been purchased by United States Banknote Corporation in the 1960s and the investment was not paying off. Thus, the Lanston Division was liquidated in 1969; American Type Founders Company assumed control of all matrix-making facilities, but most of the other machinery and equipment was disposed of. ATF retained brass patterns for display sizes of Monotype designs (with no apparent future use in mind). But in 1975 the foundry quit making cellular matrices and sold all related cellular matrix-making equipment to Hartzell Machine Works of Chester, Pa. In 1983 that equipment was passed on to Mackenzie-Harris Corporation of San Francisco, Calif. The limited cellular matrix-making capability which continues at San Francisco is all that remains of the once-powerful, innovative firm called Lanston Monotype Company.

The name and the tradition continue in England. Monotype International, still at Salfords where the first buildings were erected in 1900, continues to make the hot-metal caster and associated matrices and parts, primarily for third-world consumption. The Monophoto has been succeeded by the Lasercomp which, according to informed users, is on the leading edge of the present technological revolution in typography and typesetting.

References

Much has been written about the use of the Monotype and Lanston's invention, but very little has been recorded regarding the company nor its manufacture of the machine. Much of the brief history written here is from information provided, probably, to Mr. Peter Lisanti, instructor at the New York School of Printing, by Mr. Joseph Quigley, sales manager for Lanston Monotype, and by Mr. Rocco Giorgio, northeast district manager for Lanston. The information apparently was reproduced at various times as a "student project" by those studying the Monotype at the school. Of two different copies in my possession, only one carries a date—1957.

Other volumes and articles used as references:

"The Lanston Monotype Machine," by John S. Thompson, The Inland Printer, June, 190i. Page 432.

The Monotype System, published in Philadelphia by the Lanston Monotype Machine Co., in 19l!l; an updated version was published in 1916.

The Development of Printers' Mechanical Typesetting Methods, 1822-1925, by Richard E. Huss, is an excellent annotated reference which illustrates all the various models of the Lanston Monotype. The book was published in 1973 by the University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville.

Volume I of The Heritage of the Printer, by Dr. James Eckman, contains an article: "Tolbert Lanston and His Monotype." It also details other men and their machines. The volume was published by North American Publishing Company, Philadelphia, in 1965.

Legros and Grant's unparalleled Typographical Printing Surfaces, first published in 1916 and reprinted in 1980 by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York, provides excellent technical references regarding the early Monotype.

John S. Thompson's History of Composing Machines, first published in 1904 and reprinted in 1980 by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York, documents development of the Monotype. The book draws heavily from the article listed above, which he wrote earlier for The inland Printer.

Book of Information, published in 1970 by The Monotype Corporation Limited, details development of the Monotype in England.

A promotional piece entitled "Tolbert Lanston ...Typesetting by Tape is His Legacy," published in 1964 by Modern Linotypers, Inc., of Baltimore, Md., contains information not found elsewhere.

The Monotype Technical Bulletin No. 71, published in April, 1967, by The Monotype Corporation Limited, contains a complete description of the newly introduced Monomatic II system.

Other references include an ad for the Monomatic clipped from Printing Production magazine, dated August, 1961. A Lanston leaflet alluded to in the aforementioned ad also was consulted. Also noted was an undated ad clipped from Graphic Arts Monthly regarded the Monoblique. And articles in issues 8 and 9 of the ATF Newsletter document Hartzell Machine Works and Mackenzie-Harris Corporation's acquisition of Lanston matrix-making facilities. 3

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British History to Come Later

If for no other reason, the setting (the Folger Shakespeare Theatre) helped make John Dreyfus's talk "Memories of Monotype" one of the most notable at the 1984 conference in Washington.

Yet I sat on the edge of my seat as he proceeded into his portrayal of how English Monotype came to be, with dates, names, and slides to back it up. I sat on the edge of my chair for I did not know of his specific subject, and had produced a project as a keepsake for the meeting which covered the same subject-from the American perspective.

Happily, I do not believe we clashed on any specific points-or even names. After the meeting, John promised to "polish" his manuscript and send it for inclusion in a future ATF Newsletter so the British and American histories both will be better documented for all our readers.

In the meantime, I had purposefully cast my material at 17 picas so it could be included in the Newsletter. The material on . this and the preceeding three pages is my text. The complete keepsake included a 28-page offset reproduction of a promotional piece done by Lanston Monotype in 1910, including over 100 photos which illustrate virtually every aspect of the manufacture of a Monotype machine. A few of these complete keepsake are available-32 pages, 6xl4 inches, $5.00 postpaid in the U. S., from Rich Hopkins, P. 0. Box 263, Terra Alta, W. Va. 26764. Available only while present supply remains. 3

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Your Classifieds

Acceptance Policy—all ads for casting equipment or matrices or paraphernalia relating to type or slug casting will be inserted free of charge. All other ads must relate to the general field of letterpress printing and will be inserted at $1.50 per line of about 40 characters. No ad will be inserted more than one issue unless re-inserted by the advertiser.

Wanted—Linotype flowers and borders, numbers 256/7, 258/9, 276/7, 278/9, 280/1, 282/3, and 284/5 in 18-point. Please state price to Philip Kerrigan, White Timbers, Stokesheath Road, Oxshott, Surrey, KT22 OPS England.

Matrices for Sale—Display and composition matrices with wedges and stopbars. Primarily English Monotype faces. Include many of the best English faces. Write Rich Hopkins for a complete listing and pricing details (material is too lengthy to reproduce here. Available from from Wim Klein, Postbus 11.600, Amsterdam.

Near Phoenix—A local typographer has two Monotype casters and a bunch of mats that he has been trying to sell for about two years. Contact Paul Morneau, 330 North Third Avenue, Phoenix, Ariz. 85003.

Bruce's Penman Scripts. Facsimile edition of a rare specimen sheet of penman scripts cut by George Bruce. Introduction by Paul Duensing. 16 pages, 6x9 inches. $2.00 postpaid in U.S. from Rich Hopkins, Box 263, Terra Alta, W.Va. 26764.

Matrices and Molds—Both comp and display, salvaged from a plant in Kirksville, Mo., by Robert Link, long-time employee of the firm trashing the equipment. He reports several different faces both comp and display. The casters themselves-a 15xl7, two 15x15s, and one Orphan Annie with display and strip material attachments may still be available. Contact Robert Link, (816) 665-4003.

Linotype Mats—Typographic refinements (two character logos) wanted for 18-point Caslon Old Face 18/169, such as Tw, Ty, We, Ye, Va, fa, ffa, f., etc. These one-letter (roman) mats are sought by Fred Williams, 24667 Heather Courte, Hayward, Calif. 94545. (415) 782-3674.

Linotype Mats—Available from Mrs. Helen B. Morrison, Lee Road & Koehing Street, North- brook, Ill. 60062. Primary general commercial faces; mats were used on a Model 5 and have not seen use since 1968. Keith Gray of 424 West North Shore Drive, Mundelein, Ill. 60060 has inspected them and can give more details. Call Keith at (312) 566-1569.

Strip Material and Caster Molds—Bill Vernick, 434 Westview Drive, Lancaster, Ohio 43130 has over a dozen molds and also some spare parts which could be obtained reasonably.

Monomatic Casters—Owen Stout, Route 3, Box 108, Paoli, Ind. 47454 has acquired a shop with three Monomatics, two keyboards, and several fonts of mats which he wishes to dispose of silxe he has 15x15 machines already. Several fonts of flat mats also.

Thompson Mat Holders for Linotype matrices is wanted by Harry N. Cramer, 3A Michael Road in Randolph, Maine 02368.

Composition Mats—I still have comp mats, wedges, keybars and keybanks in my home and will send a list if you are interested. These are from Lehigh Typesetting. Write Joseph Orsolics at 341 Crest Drive, Allentown, Pa. 18052. 3

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Specimen Books Arrive; 'Wish List' Being Compiled

Specimen books printed in the late 1920s by the Gujarati Type Foundry, Bombay, India, have been received in the U.S. and have been distributed to those asking for copies.

The availability of these mint-condition, 60-year-old specimens was made possible through the kindness of Mr. Gopalkrishna Modi, a senior partner -in the Bombay foundry.

Additional copies of the specimen book are available at $20 apiece from Richard L. Hop- kins, P. 0. Box 263, Terra Alta, W. Va. 26764.

At present, Hopkins is gathering a "wish list" of types various persons are interested in. Next year, an order will be put together for type from this foundry, which has a large number of faces available which represent turn-of-the century type styles in the United States.

If you wish to order direct, you are advised to write Herb Harnish, 4716 Ottawa Drive, Ft. Wayne, Ind. 46815 for advice. 3

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