type…on metal or on film… – Cooper & Beatty, Carl Dair, c1953

Notes

Up to the mid 20th Century the word ‘type’ was synonymous with metal. But by the Second World War it was possible to commercially set type photographically directly on to film or paper. The earliest photo typesetting machines were often little more than converted hot metal machines and as pointed out in this ad, required as much skill to operate as did a Linotype or Monotype machine. It would be over thirty-five years before type could be set by relatively untrained operators. Although in the beginning photo type could not equal metal in terms of image quality it nevertheless offered enough benefits that it could not be dismissed. In the larger printing plants letterpress printing was being replaced by lithography and film was already being used to make the printing plates for large litho-presses. Not having to convert proofs of metal type to film eliminated a major step in the overall production process. The style of illustration that Dair used in this ad was quite popular at the time. It was a style that was easy to produce, and more importantly, reproduce and the simple basic shapes almost guaranteed that it would harmonize well with most typefaces. – Rod McDonald

Artifact Text:

Type … on metal or on film …

We have both. Both require skill to achieve effectiveness. We have that too!