Mergenthaler Linotype company

Variant names

Dates:

Active 1898

Active 1964

Nationality: Americans

Language: English

History notes:

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 that 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.

From the description of Type specimen booklets and associated materials, [ca. 1920-1938]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122613156