Those of you who have grown up with desktop publishing software and computer printers may have never seen some of the technology showcased on the PrintingFilms.com website. Over 30 films showcase the printing and typesetting technology of the 1950s through 1980s ranging from handset type and Linotype machines through to the first phototype and computerized typesetting systems.
A few of the films:
- Farewell etaion shrdlu (1978): A film created by Carl Schlesinger and David Loeb Weiss documenting the last day of hot metal typesetting at The New York Times. This film shows the entire newspaper production process from hot-metal typesetting to creating stereo moulds to high-speed press operation.
- The Eighth Wonder (1961): Made for the 75th anniversary of the Linotype in 1961, this film shows the impact that the invention of the Linotype had on the printing industry and the world. There are excellent sections on typeface design, cutting steel punches, using the Benton engraving machine, and the manufacture of Linotype matrices.
- Graphic Communications We Used to Call it Printing (1969): The film features the printing of The Wall Street Journal in California showing the way that the articles are transferred using phone, microwave, and paper-punch tape. All forms of printing are displayed from small, letterpress jobs to printing on pharmaceutical drugs and packaging for toothpaste.
I have seen the transition from hot metal type to computerized typesetting in my own life. My father worked at the Sault Daily Star and I remember the composing room full of Linotype machines when I was a child. I can remember him showing me the first computer at the newspaper. By the time he retired, it was all completely computerized, and I had a PC and was using Venture Publisher to produce a science fiction fanzine.
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