Ancestors

Written by Dunwich Type Founders on 2025-01-25 at 00:51

Does anyone have a photo of a HUGE Linotype matrix? I’ve seen hundreds of photos of text size matrices but I want to know what 132 point Scotch Initials look like.

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Toot

Written by Doug Wilson on 2025-01-25 at 01:14

@DunwichType Well, basically nothing above 60pt could run on a regular Linotype, but they did have a machine called the All-Purpose Linotype which was basically a copy of a Ludlow and was a complete flop.

You had to manually assemble the mats just like a Ludlow 🤯

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Descendants

Written by Dunwich Type Founders on 2025-01-25 at 02:04

@onpaperwings and that explains why I’ve never seen one! Thanks for sharing.

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Written by Doug Wilson on 2025-01-25 at 19:15

@DunwichType Of course! In the early years of the Linotype, the machine only went up to 10 or 12 pt. Remember; these were newspaper and body-copy machines, pure and simple.

It wasn't for probably 20 years before they were adapted for larger and larger point sizes in order to grab more of the advertising setting market.

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Written by Doug Wilson on 2025-01-28 at 22:57

@DunwichType To fully complete the circle and your original question, here is a screenshot of an email correspondence that I had with Frank Romano at the Museum of Printing about the largest and smallest type that could run on a Linotype machine (outside of the APL).

It goes from 4.5 point up to 72 point!

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Written by Dunwich Type Founders on 2025-01-29 at 00:00

@onpaperwings Thanks again!

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