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Stereotyping reduced wear and tear on loose type, and allowed a printer to store the accurate setting of a popular work for subsequent printings. Stereotype metal was then poured into the mould (or matrix), creating a new plate of the entire forme.
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Stereotype printing plates were first created in the late 18th century, and were created by making an impression of a set forme of type using plaster of Paris. Printing Plates - Stereotype and Electrotype International Printing Museum Tour: The Linotype & the Typesetting Race (35:45 sec)ĭVD of complete Linotype film available at Shadek-Fackenthal Library - DVD 4378 History of Printing - Linotype & Baltimore Museum of Industry (5:29 sec) Monotype Keyboard in operation (12:50 sec) Both machines created increases in speed and efficiency, allowing operators to set type faster, create fresh type for every job, and avoid the time-consuming task of redistribution. In the case of the Monotype machine, individual letters of type were cast from a pre-selected matrix case (representing a specific point size and font.) The Linotype machine composed and cast a larger "slug", or single line of type, again from a set of pre-selected matrixes. These machines were capable of composing and casting type directly from a set of brass matrixes. Both machines combined a typewriter-like keyboard with a hot-metal type casting unit. Mechanical typesetting began in the late 1880s with the invention of the Monotype and Linotype machines. Until the late 19th century, the hand setting of type had changed very little since the dawn of printing.