Currently Monotype Imaging, Inc, a typesetting and typeface design company responsible for many developments in printing technology — in particular the Monotype machine which was the first fully mechanical typesetter — and the design and production of typefaces in the 19th and 20th centuries.

History

Lanston Monotype Machine Company was founded by Tolbert Lanston in Washington D.C., USA, in 1887. Lanston had a patented mechanical method of punching out metal types from cold strips of metal which were set (hence typesetting) into a matrix for the printing press. In 1896 Lanston patented the first hot metal typesetting machine and Monotype issued Modern Condensed, its first typeface.

In a search for funding, the company set up a branch in London, England, in 1897 under the name Lanston Monotype Corporation Ltd. In 1899 a new factory was built in Salfords near Redhill in Surrey where it has been located for over a century. The company was of sufficent size to justify the construction of its own railway station.

The original Monotype machine used 'hot metal' to form individual letters. Thus spelling mistakes could be corrected by adding or removing individual letters. This was particularly useful for quality printing - such as books. In contrast the Linotype machine formed a complete line of type in one bar. Editing these was not possible, but easier to handle if moving a complete section of text around a page. This was more useful for quick printing - such as newspapers.

The typesetting machines were continually improved in the early years of the 20th century, with a typewriter style keyboard for entering the type being introduced in 1906. Many of the typefaces familiar today were introduced during the first quarter of the 20th century, such as Caslon , Times New Roman and Goudy . For much of this century the company ran a compositor (typesetter operator) training school in London.

In 1936 the company was floated on the Stock Exchange and became the Monotype Corporation Ltd. Later the company was split into three divisions: Monotype International who manufactured spinning mirror switched laser beam phototypesetters; Monotype Limited who continued the hot metal machines; and Monotype Typography who designed and sold typefaces. A research and development department was set up in Cambridge to isolate it from day to day production issues.

In 1998, Agfa-Compugraphic acquired the Monotype Corporation, which was renamed Agfa Monotype. In late 2004, after six years under the Agfa Corporation, the Monotype assets were acquired by TA Associates , a private equity investment firm based in Boston. The company was incorporated as Monotype Imaging, with a focus on the company's traditional core competencies of typography and professional printing.

Monotype was the first company to produce a digital version of the handwritten Urdu script, Urdu Nasta'liq. A Chinese 'keyboard' was developed to typeset chinese characters, it comprised a book with a stylus. As the pages were turned, the page number was detected electrically and this was combined with the position of the character selected by the stylus on a large grid.

See also

• Linotype machine

External links

• Monotype Imaging
• Fonts.com from Monotype