Merganthaler Linotype Company:

Type Specimen Books and Associated Materials, ca. 1920-1938

RLIN ID No.

NYGG01-A63

Main Entry

Merganthaler Linotype Company.

Title

Type Specimen Booklets and Associated Materials, [ca. 1920-1938].

Physical Description

45 items (1 box)

Historical/Biographical Note

The period from 1825 on saw the development of composing machines that would speed the process of typesetting in the face of vastly increased demand for books in Europe and the United States. About 300 had been patented by the time Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854-1899) introduced his version in 1886. The German immigrant had worked in a Baltimore machine shop for a decade while perfecting a machine which used small brass matrixes with impressions of the letterforms, etc. and melted lead to cast slugs bearing raised lines of type. The process dominated trade and business printing in the United States for several decades.

Scope and Contents

Specimen booklets, probably from the 1930s, illustrating typefaces available on the Linotype casting machine and showing the various point sizes and styles. Also miscellaneous copies of The Linotype Bulletin, mostly from the 1920s. Typefaces include Linotype versions of Baskerville, Caslon, Elzevir, and Janson. Also miscellaneous copies of The Linotype bulletin from the 1920s.

General Note

Collection complements similar material in the Grolier Club book collection.

Names

Merganthaler Linotype Company.

Linotype Bulletin.

Subjects

Printing. Specimens. United States. 20^th Century.

Genres

Type specimens. United States. 20^th Century.

Location

Grolier Club, 47 East 60^th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022-1098.