Typography and Letterpress

Typography and letterpress are lifetime interests of mine. Even as a child I had a facination for the printed word. As wonderful as it is, the internet and the web have deadened our appreciation for the beauty and art of the printed word.

Here are some references that I find particularly good on typography and letterpress. Caution! If you watch the first YouTube, you may just become hooked :-).

• YouTube introduction to Letterpress. Magnificant intro -- a must view! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv69kB_e9KY .
• YouTube filmstrip on the printing industry. Like the old WWII black and white filestrips, this was created in 1947 to help young people choose a career in the printing industry. You can almost feel what it was like to live in a time just before most of us were born. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPCiWiLu-W4&feature=related .
• Wikipedia article on typography. Gets into the difference between legibility and readibility http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography .
• Wikipedia article on typesetting. Tracing the history from B.C. to Gutenberg letterpress to phototypesetting to modern digital typesetting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typesetting .
• YouTube video explaining the Linotype. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRYxOs1oCRY . The Linotype is a truly amazing machine with over 10,000 moving parts.
• Wikipedia article on the Linotype machine. Typesetters could set 10 times as much type using the Linotype. Prior to the Linotype, no newspapers were more than 8 pages. Ottmar Mergenthaler created the Linotype after migrating to Baltimore where Mergenthaler high school bears his name. The Linotype and its clones were the dominant form of typesetting for half a century. Mergenthaler is known as the second Gutenberg.  This article has a good explanation of the key mechanics of the machine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine .