Cait Stone: Chapter 7

In chapter 7 the book discusses the evolution of type and how far it has come since the Industrial Revolution.  When typography started each letter was laid individually line by line to create the the desired affect. They printer would insert copper to add spacings and justify the type. This type was then secured together and placed in a printing press. My father has this old press at his print shop and it is very interesting to watch the mechanisms work. Although by the time he was printing in the 70s he would use lead which was melted and reformed to create specific letters in specific fonts, allowing more design flexibility  The invention of the Linotype machine was an important step in the technology of typography. This machine was named because it produced a single line of type to a certain length specified by the keyboard operator. The next great invention in typography was the monotype machine  this machine allowed for one letter at a time rather than an entire line like a typewriter. The Ludow was a more complicated version of these two machines as it did not have a keyboard but rather used matrices  We have since developed further past digital and photo typesetting to programs such as Illustrator that allow for specific and detailed movement of type to enhance design options. We have come a very long way since my dad's old linotype printing press.