Printing history and the Intertype linotype machine

During my years as collections manager in the Graphic Arts Collection I’ve dusted many a linotype machine, but have never had the opportunity to actually use one. So I attended an intensive class that included letterpress printing, and was given the opportunity to use an Intertype linotype. The machine, a typecasting machine was manufactured in the United States in the 1910s. The model C was advertised as being a three-magazine model, capable of holding three different font sizes at once.

Here I am sitting at an Intertype Model C at the David Wolfe Studios in Portland, Maine.

On a linotype machine like the Intertype, you type out the letters on the keyboard that you want the machine to cast. The machine lines up the type matrices for each letter. You can then review the representative letters to determine if the line is typeset correctly.

Pressing a lever sends the group of matrices further into the machine where molten lead is sent into their casting parts. Then, by a miracle it would seem, the finished line of type is sent out of the machine to cool, where it can be checked again. When the lines are all cast they are removed to a proofing location in correct printing order.

The Gettysburg Address typeset in Baskerville 14.

My class project was to reproduce a version of the Gettysburg Address, a relatively difficult task for a first timer. The first day using the Intertype was painful. (Yes, I’m smiling in the photo, but it was taken the day after I successfully produced the central text of the Address.) The letters on the matrices are brightly colored to assist the type caster. The Baskerville 14 point font that I used the first day was not marked well. (Note: Other styles of linotype machines include a reading lamp!)

To print the colophon (the production notes below the Address) I needed to cast from smaller size type matrices from a different Intertype magazine. The bright colors on that set of matrices were much more legible or, who knows, I also could have become more skilled in the art of typecasting. 

Linotype matrices (right), and lines of type (left and back).

After casting all the type I was able to lay out the design for the final document to be printed and lock up the lines of type with larger wood type (for the title) and the cuts (engraved illustrations) of the stars and lobster, for decoration. (I was unable to resist the temptation to include the lobster – we were printing the document in Maine after all!)

All told, my typecasting and letterpress press printing training was a trial-by-fire (or lead) experience which allowed me to feel the pain and suffering, and the pride and joy of the printer. Long live the printer!

Joan Boudreau is a curator in the Graphic Arts printing and printmaking collections at the National Museum of American History.

Comments

[Greg]

It's great to see that a linotype is still being used in today's world of photopolymer plates for letterpress.

[Jason]

I just bought a Heidelberg T-Platen letterpress but a Linotype typesetting machine is on my list. Although we work using digital technology I love the craftsmanship associated with this type of printing.

[Martinamc]

The interesting fact about Linotype typesetting machine is, that it is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting.

[Mike]

It just goes to show you how far we have come in the age of printing. From the old printing presses to even typewriters from a few decades ago technology seems to be evolving at a rapid pace. I wonder what we will see say in the printing field say in 20 years from now.

[Joe Brant]

That is most definitely taking a giant step back in time! And produced a fine looking document. You must certainly have a better appreciation for what our parents and grandparents had to do in their work. Our current technology is wonderful.

[Anna]

What a humongous machine! That thing looks like it weighs a ton! It is so incredible to me how far we have come in technology in just a few centuries. It boggles my mind how technology keeps getting smaller, faster, sharper, and easier to use—I am so thankful for that, yet I still find myself loving and admiring antiques like this! There is such a significant contrast between my little laserjet printer and this Intertype linotype machine.

It must have been nice for the author of the article to actually have the opportunity to learn to use a machine that she had previously only spent time cleaning. Her Gettysburg Address assignment looks like it turned out beautifully! Being a Mainer at heart, I must confess that I love how she included a red lobster at the bottom! Thanks for sharing.

[Tedi]

This blog actually made me want to research more on the progression of the printing industry as I now work for a printing company. With many digital gizmos and gadgets it is refreshing to step back and appreciate the craft that is printing. Back then people in the industry were considered master craftsmen nowadays you don't hear printers called that anymore. Well that is "The fallacy of the golden past." right?

[Lenexa]

It's amazing to consider the changes we've encountered. The majority of us didn't have email addresses 10 years ago.

[Bill]

As a young man at 14, I learned Letterpress in NYC on "Printers' Row" I learned how to redistribute hand type back into a California Job Case (type draw) If my boss found a letter in the wronge compartment there was hell to pay. So I have gone from letter press through offset and into the relitively boring world of DIGITAL. I have seen almost all of the craftsmenship disapear. I got into the industry because I was mechanically inclined. It was a real art to get the machines to run smoothly and productively. I loved the hand work that used to be the hallmark of the GRAPHIC ARTS INDUSTRY. The "ART" in Graphic Arts is only a mere shadow if its' previous form.

[Patrick]

I think about what I use today to run my internet printing business where we make real estate business cards and compare it to the linotype machine and I am in awe of how technology and life progresses.