Pick-up & Delivery Service mailer – Mono Lino Typesetting, John Thimidis, 1961

Mono Lino was known for their reliability and service and, within the shop, it was a serious matter if a delivery was late, or worse, missed. By the late ’70s their shipping department had a staff of twelve. In addition, a large number of jobs were sent daily in a steady stream of outside couriers and taxi’s.

The back of the mailer shows a small assortment of decorative Monotype borders and ornaments available from Mono Lino. By the end of the 1960s the use of decorative borders and ornaments began to recede and they would never return to popular commercial use.

Notes

The use of historical types and images may seem quaint, even lazy and irrelevant to the present day. But works such as this, from Mono Lino Typesetting in 1961, speak to something that is absolutely fundamental and indispensable to all typographic design: to be legible or recognizable, design must incorporate at least some aspect of historical form. This flyer shows an assortment of types and decorative borders that were popular with designers who had, once again, rediscovered Victorian engravings and ornaments.

John Thimidis was the second Type Director at Mono Lino having replaced Leslie (Sam) Smart. This ad emphasizes the company’s ability to deliver typesetting anywhere on the continent something, it should be pointed out, that the other major Toronto type shops could also do. Nevertheless it was an important selling feature for Mono Lino as service and reliability was important to the company. Up to the day they closed their doors Mono Lino continued to set type for clients right across the country, although most of their clients outside metro Toronto were large oil companies, financial groups and the Federal government.

Walter Adamson was the son of Bill Adamson, one of the founders of the company. He joined the firm in 1944 and became President in 1958. Mono Lino was controlled by the Adamson family right up to April 1985 when, seeing the profound impact the personal computer was about to have on the typesetting business, they forced the company into voluntary receivership. Other shops soon followed and in less than ten years the typesetting trade in Canada ceased to exist. – Brian Donnelly

  • Category
    Trade and Craft

    Title
    Mono Lino Pick-up & Delivery Service

    Date
    1961

    Client
    Mono Lino Typesetting Company Limited

    Credits
    Design: John R. Thimidis, Type Director

    Principal Typefaces
    Display: Onyx, Bodoni Ultra Bold, Craw Clarendon Book, Egyptian Expanded, various borders and ornaments
    Text: Antique Modern

    Description
    Two-sided, two-colour flyer on rough tan stock
    Size: 8.75 × 11.5 inches

    Region
    Ontario

    Language
    English

    Images
    2

    Holding
    Private collection of Brian Donnelly, Gananoque, Ontario

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