Tuesday, October 19, 2010

History of Typography

Mergenthaler Linotype Company

Founded in 1886 by Ottmar Mergenthaler, the primary function of this company was to market Ottmar's linecaster machine. Known as the Linotype typesetting machine, this invention revolutionized how typesetters went about completing their jobs. It was most commonly used within the newspaper printing business.


Before Mergenthaler's machine, typesetters needed to place individual letters and characters by hand. This was obviously a very labor intensive process, with a lot of room for improvement. The Linotype machine automated a majority of the typesetting process, allowing the operators to set type for a much greater number of pages during hours of operation.









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