Summer Conference is Definite ‘Go’

Busy Schedule Includes Foundry, Library Trips

Final arrangements are falling into place for the Second National Conference on Metal Typecasting and Design and the package of goodies being put together by E. H. “Pat” Taylor and his committee is bound to delight anyone with a bent for typecasting.

Scheduled Sunday, June 29 through Wednesday, July 2, the Conference will have as its base of operations the Sheraton Plaza Hotel in New Rochelle, N. Y.

Host foundry for the event will be Pat Taylor’s Out of Sorts Foundery, a short distance away at Larchmont, N. Y.

Highlight of the Conference will be a guided tour of American Type Founders Company at Elizabeth, N. J. Generally, the company has adhered to a policy of discouraging visitors because of the inherent dangers associated with typecasting, but that policy has been relaxed because of the keen interest in the process demonstrated by Fellowship members as a whole.

Another highlight of the Conference will be a visit to A Colish Press, the last commercial Monotype plant in the New York City area.

The number of persons joining the tours at these two plants must be restricted to 40 persons and therefore, only the first 40 persons signing up for the Conference will be privileged to join the tours. This is an excellent reason for you to mail reservations early.

Additional persons may participate in other Conference events, but the two plant trips alone assure a big turnout, yet there are several additional events planned.

A third “treat” for participants will be a “Program and History of the ATF Museum and Library Assembled by Henry L. Bullen.” That extensive collection, now housed at Columbia University, will be presented by Terry Belanger, assistant dean of the Columbia School of Library Service.

Arrangements for guest speakers are not finalized, but tentatively include Mike Parker, director of typographic development for Mergenthaler Linotype, who will speak prior to the ATF visit on the history of typefounding in Europe and the U.S., and Herb Johnson, Cary Professor of Graphic Arts at Rochester Institute of Technology, who will be speaking on the “lost” Goudy types with a perspective on how many actually are preserved in metal and matrices, and how more can be perpetuated through electro-depositing matrices and other processes.

The First Conference, wherein the American Typecasting Fellowship was organized, was held at Terra Alta, W. Va., in 1978.

Conference registration fee for the 1980 event is set at $100.00 per participant. This fee is much higher than for the meeting in West Virginia. However, it does include all meal functions except breakfast, bus transportation for two tours, and a modicum of beverages at the various functions.

Members Advised to Return Applications Early

The registration fee should be forwarded with a completed application (found in this Newsletter) to E. H. “Pat” Taylor, Chairman, 25 Old Colony Dr., Larchmont, N. Y. 10538.

Hotel arrangements should be made separately with the Sheraton Plaza. A separate card providing rates, phone numbers, addresses, and location is included with this Newsletter.

All Conference participants are encouraged to prepare a Keepsake item for distribution at the Conference Tuesday night. Keepsakes range from extensive booklets to single-sheet statements on personal equipment.

Committee members organizing the Conference, in addition to Taylor, include Terry Belanger, Harold Berliner, Paul Duensing, Elizabeth Harris, Stan Nelson and Richard Hopkins.

The detailed schedule is as follows:

Sunday, June 29, 1980

3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Registration at Sheraton Plaza Lobby

5:00 Buffet, Reception and Visitation to the Out of Sorts Letter Foundery, Larchmont

Monday, June 30, 1980

9:00 a.m. Sheraton Plaza, “History of Type Foundries—ATF & Others” with Paul Duensing moderating. Mike Parker will speak at this time.

12:00 noon Buffet Luncheon, Sheraton Plaza

1:00 Board buses for trip to Elizabeth, N. J.

2:00 Plant Visitation, American Type Founders with George Gasperik as host

4:00 Bus to Columbia University in New York City

5:30 “A Program and History of ATF Museum and Library Assembled by Henry L. Bullen” presented by Terry Belanger. Buffet and Reception follow at Columbia University.

9:00 Return to Sheraton Plaza

Tuesday, July 1, 1980

9:00 a.m. Sheraton Plaza: “Publications, Documentation & Ephemera on Monotype and Thompson Equipment” with Harold Berliner of Nevada City, Calif., as Moderator and Speaker.

10:30 a.m. “Birth, Care and Feeding of the Private Monotype-Thompson Foundry” with Pat Taylor, Rich Hopkins, Richard Hartzell (Hartzell Machine Works), and Richard Shaw (The Colish Press) as Panelists.

12:00 noon Buffet Luncheon, Sheraton Plaza 1:30 p.m. Visit to A. Colish Press with Steve Abramson, President, as Host. Demonstration of Operations by Richard Shaw.

6:30 p.m. Reception and Dinner at Sheraton Plaza with Herb Johnson as Speaker.

9:30 to ? Hospitality Suite and Keepsake Exchange. Also Barter, Tall Tales, and Other Necessary Details.

Wednesday, July 2, 1980

9:00 a.m. Sheraton Plaza: “The Making of Hand Molds” and “Mat Engraving Electros, and Type Design” by Stan Nelson and Paul Duensing.

12:00 noon — Conference Ends.

Application Form
Name ..........................................
Address .......................................
City, State, Zip ..............................
Telephone ( ............ ) ....................
Number of participants in your party? .........
Family members with you not participating? How many? ........
Will you have seats available in your car to help transport participants to A. Colish Press? If so, how many seats? ........
Other special notes: ..........................
Price is $100.00 per participant, payable to E. H. Taylor, Chairman of the Committee, 25 Old Colony Drive, Larchmont, N. Y. 10538. 3

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This Was Best in Typesetting 100 Years Ago

A brief historic sidetrip is in order as a result of the accompanying original electrotype cut being loaned to me recently by Bruno Woernle of Baltimore, owner of one of the last holdouts of hot-metal commercial composition—he calls it Brunographics.

This electrotype was used in advertising for the Unitype, at one time or another.

Richard Huss’ The Development of Printers’ Mechanical Typesetting Methods, 1822–1923, is the source of information which follows:

The Unitype evolved through the Simplex One-Man Typesetter and the Thorne Typesetter introduced about 1898. By 1903, more than 1,500 Simplex (or Unitype) machines were in use throughout the U.S., and the machines seemed to have a very long lifespan.

The Unitype was a typesetting and distributing machine and used specially notched types supplied by the typefounder. It was available for at least four different sizes: 8, 9, 10, and 12 point type.

The Thorne and Simplex predecessors used manual justification. The Unitype used corrugated spaces for justification. Lines were overset and then compressed to the appropriate line measure.

The distributor, which was the drum-like top section, was filled with lines of type for distribution. Letters dropped into their appropriate compartments as the unit turned and all the various notching combinations came to each letter. The distributor discarded the corrugated spaces and leads too.

Several months ago, Harry Weidemann of Nyssa, Ore., sent me samples of type with the special notches asking if I knew what they were. The notches appeared to have been sawed into the letters rather than being cast specially (which would have been a far more difficult task).

Thanks, Bruno, for the use of this cut and the opportunity for this historic excursion.

The Thorne Typesetter, it might be added, was in heavy competition with the Mergenthaler Linotype. Being introduced in 1880, the Thorne enjoyed a bit of a jump on the Mergenthaler machine. In the long run, however, Mergenthaler obviously won. 3

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Did You Receive Number Four of This Newsletter?

Because of my faith in the U.S. Postal Service’s efficiency, Number 4 of this Newsletter was mailed in March via third-class mail with postage affixed as per instructions from our local postmaster.

It has since been learned that this was an insufficient amount and the Newsletters were summarily tossed into the trash, returned to sender, forwarded postage-due, etc.

I have no way of knowing how many of these eight-page issues actually reached their destinations. If you did not receive a copy, I will have extras at the Conference. If you are not attending the Conference, drop a note and a second copy will be mailed.

The Postal Service reserves the right to say you were wrong in following its recommendations and instructions, and you alone are responsible for not knowing more about the postal regulations than your postmaster. 3

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Hartzell to Have Warehouse Sellout

Richard Hartzell announces a Warehouse Close-Out Sale of various Monotype items too numerous to delineate here. Among his items are keybars at $2.50 each, and 500 fonts of used display mats at $2.50 each. He will have a list of these items with him at the Conference.

Other items include:

10 English D Keyboards, 2.8–2.9,000 Serial Numbers at $2.00 Each
4 American 15x15, 15x17 Composition Casters at $50 to $100 Each
2 Pantograph Punch Cutters at $500 Each
2 Hydraulic Punch Presses, $300 to $500
1 Thompson Mold Display Height Side Jet .050" Special, 18 to 48 Point, for $2.00

Over 5,000 Lanston, English, ATF and Hartzell odd lot Monotype parts. Many parts are from machine rebuilding days in stock. Pots, channel blocks, levers, rollers, cams, studs, gears, you name it but give us the correct part number. Full price only if manufactured or supplied at today’s labor cost. Otherwise, 75 percent off new parts prices.

Contact Hartzell Machine Works, Inc., Market St. & Bethel Rd., Twin Oaks, Pa. 19014, (215) 485-3502. 3

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Typecasters Gather on West Coast

An impromptu West-Coast gathering of typecasting enthusiasts assembled May 6 at the home of Andy Soule of Los Gatos, Calif. Among the tall tales being told was how Dan Solo managed to acquire a Benton Pantograph from England.

Paul Duensing affixed great significance to the fact that the gathering was concurrent to that of the American Psychiatric Association meeting, also in California.

Those attending were Californians Andy Soule and Dan Solo, Paul Duensing of Vicksburg, Mich., and Roy Rice of Atlanta, Ga. 3

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