Linotype: The Film Interview Excerpts

via letterology
In honor of the 125th anniversary of the Linotype (July 3rd, 1886) the producers of Linotype: The Film have released a few teaser excerpts of interview footage.
Read the rest and watch a teaser here, and find more videos here.

Linotype Machines

spotted vis a friend on TunnelBug's photostream 
“These ghostly linotype machines stand guard on the 7th floor of this early 20th century gothic masterpiece in St Louis, MO. Linotypes made the plate for printing presses by embossing red hot plates of iron. I couldn't help but imagine red hot plates of iron passing the halls of this grand skyscraper…”
Visit TunnelBug's photostream here.

Celebrating Linotype, 125 Years Since Its Debut

via the atlantic
“Around for a century, Linotype machines were made obsolete in the 1970s by changing technologies -- but they have not been forgotten…”
Read the rest here.

Practical Principles

via letterology
“From an alphabet of tongue twisters originally published in 1836 and revised 100 years later by the Mergenthaler Linotype Corporation. This 1936 edition of Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation was designed and illustrated by some of the most celebrated typographers and designers of the day…”
See more examples here, and see the entire book on view at Dr. Chris Mullen's amazing site, The Visual Telling of Stories, here.

Linoskala

via Blue Pencil

“…Linoskala from Linotype GmbH, a two-sided volvelle (wheel chart) used to find out characters per cicero for 25 Linotype typefaces (presumably hot metal rather than Linofilm) at a series of [Didot] point sizes. The sizes vary from typeface to typeface with most being available in 6 pt, 7 pt, 8 pt, 9 pt, 10 pt and 12 pt while a few stop at 10 pt and Excelsior additionally offers 7.5 pt and 8.5 pt. Oddly there is no 11 pt.

There are two parts to the volvelle. One is a bright orange wheel with a handle and a viewing slot that has the list of typefaces and the cicero increments (in black) as well as Linotype’s logo. The other is a larger light gray wheel with the typeface names and point sizes in black arranged around its edge.

The volvelle is not dated but it is most likely from the early 1960s since Optima (1958) is among the typefaces.”

Read the entire post here.