![1970s linotype fonts 1970s linotype fonts](https://cdn.myfonts.net/cdn-cgi/image/width=720,height=360,fit=contain,format=auto/images/pim/10014/a33VztCqB4wZ1BQn68zjPP4E_035c952dc7e902b56388f03f5d626dd3.png)
The Linotype machine, invented in 1884, used a keyboard to assemble the casting matrices, and cast an entire line of type at a time (hence its name).
![1970s linotype fonts 1970s linotype fonts](http://luc.devroye.org/BobNewman--Data70-1970.jpg)
Most of the successful systems involved the in-house casting of the type to be used, hence are termed "hot metal" typesetting. While some, such as the Paige compositor, met with limited success, by the end of the 19th century, several methods had been devised whereby an operator working a keyboard or other devices could produce the desired text. The time and effort required to manually compose the text led to several efforts in the 19th century to produce mechanical typesetting. However, it is a small niche within the larger typesetting market. Still, hand composition and letterpress printing have not fallen completely out of use, and since the introduction of digital typesetting, it has seen a revival as an artisanal pursuit. In this process, called stereotyping, the entire form is pressed into a fine matrix such as plaster of Paris or papier mâché, called a flong, to create a positive, from which the stereotype form was electrotyped, cast of type metal.Īdvances such as the typewriter and computer would push the state of the art even farther ahead. This was particularly prevalent in book and newspaper work where rotary presses required type forms to wrap an impression cylinder rather than set in the bed of a press. In order to extend the working life of type, and to account for the finite sorts in a case of type, copies of forms were cast when anticipating subsequent printings of a text, freeing the costly type for other work. Set width, like body size, is measured in points. Not shown, and more the concern of the casterman, is the “set”, or width of each sort. Wooden printing sorts were used for centuries in combination with metal type. The diagram at right illustrates a cast metal sort: a face, b body or shank, c point size, 1 shoulder, 2 nick, 3 groove, 4 foot. Errors in sorting would produce later misprints. Ī forgotten but important part of the process took place after the printing: the expensive sorts had to be sorted, so they would be ready for reuse. It might just as easily have been "mind your b's and d's". This is reputed to be the origin of the expression "mind your p's and q's". As seen in the photo of the composing stick, a lower case 'q' looks like a 'd', a lower case 'b' looks like a 'p', a lower case 'p' looks like a 'b' and a lower case 'd' looks like a 'q'. Metal type read backwards, from right to left, and a key skill of the compositor was their ability to read this backwards text.ĭuring typesetting, individual sorts are picked from a type case with the right hand, and set into a composing stick held in the left hand from left to right, and as viewed by the setter upside down. The form was placed in a press and inked, and then printed (an impression made) on paper. If done correctly, all letters were of the same height, and a flat surface of type was created. The compositor assembled these sorts into words, then lines, then pages of text, which were then bound tightly together by a frame, making up a form or page. A tray with many dividers, called a case, contained cast metal sorts, each with a single letter or symbol, but backwards (so they would print correctly). During much of the letterpress era, movable type was composed by hand for each page by workers called compositors.