Short History of Typesetting

If you enjoyed yesterday’s story about the vacation memo, you may also like another video by Professor Brailsford on a short history of typesetting. The Mergenthaler Linotron 202 that was the subject of my last post could be said to be a third generation typesetter. Bell Labs’ original CAT typesetter, with its optical fonts, was an example of a second generation typesetter. The Mergenthaler Linotype, a mechanical typesetter, is an example of the first generation.

Brailsford starts with an explanation of manual typesetting where the individual pieces of type were set by hand. He briefly covers the Linotype and then moves on to the second and third generation typesetters. They were all amazing machines but the most amazing, by far, was the Linotype.

It was completely mechanical but was able to take input from a keyboard, cast a line of (justified) type from molten lead, and then redistribute the type molds to the machine for reuse. If you want to see it in action you can watch the first 6 minutes of this 1960 film about the Linotype. That will give you a good idea of how complicated it was. If you have the time and want a real treat, watch the whole thing (it’s 35 minutes). After the short 6 minute introduction, the film explains in detail how it worked. It’s an astounding machine and by far the most complicated that I’ve ever seen. At the very end, they talk about the “future,” which involved driving the Linotype with paper tape.

The production values of the film are very dated by today’s standards but it’s still entertaining and informative. If you’re a nerd, you really have to watch it.

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