Monotype Imaging Inc. is a
typesettingTypesetting involves the presentation of textual material in graphic form on paper or some other medium. Before the advent of desktop publishing, typesetting of printed material was produced in print shops by compositors or typesetters working by hand, and later with machines.The general principle...
and
typefaceIn typography, a typeface is a set of one or more fonts, in one or more sizes, designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of glyphs. A typeface usually comprises an alphabet of letters, numerals, and punctuation marks; it may also include ideograms and symbols, or consist...
design company (
type foundryA type foundry is a company that designs and/or distributes typefaces. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers...
) responsible for many developments in
printingPrinting is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.-History:...
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. Its most widely known product, by far, is the font Times New Roman.
The
Lanston Monotype Machine Company was founded by
Tolbert LanstonTolbert Lanston was the American founder of Monotype, inventing a mechanical typesetting system patented in 1887 and the first hot metal typesetter a few years later....
in Washington D.C. in 1887.
Monotype Imaging Inc. is a
typesettingTypesetting involves the presentation of textual material in graphic form on paper or some other medium. Before the advent of desktop publishing, typesetting of printed material was produced in print shops by compositors or typesetters working by hand, and later with machines.The general principle...
and
typefaceIn typography, a typeface is a set of one or more fonts, in one or more sizes, designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of glyphs. A typeface usually comprises an alphabet of letters, numerals, and punctuation marks; it may also include ideograms and symbols, or consist...
design company (
type foundryA type foundry is a company that designs and/or distributes typefaces. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers...
) responsible for many developments in
printingPrinting is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.-History:...
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. Its most widely known product, by far, is the font Times New Roman.
History
The
Lanston Monotype Machine Company was founded by
Tolbert LanstonTolbert Lanston was the American founder of Monotype, inventing a mechanical typesetting system patented in 1887 and the first hot metal typesetter a few years later....
in Washington D.C. 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
matrixIn hot metal typesetting, a matrix is a mould for casting the letters known as sorts used in letterpress printing....
for the
printing pressA printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw-presses used to press...
. In 1896 Lanston patented the first
hot metal typesettingIn printing and typography, hot metal typesetting refers to 19th-century technologies for typesetting text in letterpress printing. This method injects molten type metal into a mold that has the shape of one or more glyphs...
machine and Monotype issued Modern Condensed, its first
typefaceIn typography, a typeface is a set of one or more fonts, in one or more sizes, designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of glyphs. A typeface usually comprises an alphabet of letters, numerals, and punctuation marks; it may also include ideograms and symbols, or consist...
. The licenses for the Lanston type library have been acquired by
P22P22 type foundry is a digital type foundry from Buffalo, New York, that develops and markets typefaces for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. The name P22 has no specific significance and was used prior to the type foundry as a label for various art projects including an ambitious mail art...
, a digital
type foundryA type foundry is a company that designs and/or distributes typefaces. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers...
based in
Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, second only to New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River, Buffalo is the principal city of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the seat of Erie...
.
In a search for funding, the company set up a branch in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in 1897 under the name
Lanston Monotype Corporation Ltd. In 1899 a new factory was built in
SalfordsSalfords is a village in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies approximately 3 miles or 5 km south of Redhill on the A23 London to Brighton road. It was the original UK home of the Monotype Corporation and Salfords railway station was originally built to service the...
near
RedhillRedhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...
in
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
where it has been located for over a century. The company was of sufficient 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 machineThe Linotype machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The machine revolutionized printing and especially newspaper publishing, making it possible for a relatively small number of operators to set type for many pages on a daily basis.The Linotype machine operator enters text on a ...
formed a complete line of type in one bar. Editing these required replacing an entire line (and if the replacement ran on to another line, the rest of the paragraph). But Linotype slugs were 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
typewriterA typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with a set of "keys" that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper...
style
keyboardAlphanumeric keyboards include typewriters and computer keyboards. An alphanumeric keyboard is a device with many keys - Computer Keyboards :...
for entering the type being introduced in 1906. This arrangement addressed the need to vary the space between words so that all lines were the same length.
The keyboard operator types the copy, each key punching holes in a roll of paper tape that will control the separate caster. A drum on the keyboard indicates to the operator the space required for each line. This information is also punched in the paper. Before fitting the tape to the caster it is turned over so that the first holes read on each line set the width of the variable space. The subsequent holes determine the position of a frame, or die case, that holds the set of matrices for the face being used. Each matrix is a rectangle of copper recessed with the shape of the letter. Once the matrix is positioned over the mould that forms the rest of the piece of type being cast, molten type metal is injected.
Many of the typefaces familiar today were introduced during the first half of the 20th century, such as
Times New Roman and
Goudy. The programme of revivals of old typefaces and the commissioning of new ones was a major part of the typographic renaissance of the period. For much of that century the company ran a compositor (typesetter operator) training school in London.
In 1936 the company was floated on the
London Stock ExchangeThe London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1801, it is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, with many overseas listings as well as British companies...
and became the
Monotype Corporation Ltd. Later the company was split into three divisions: Monotype International, which manufactured spinning mirror switched laser beam phototypesetters; Monotype Limited, which continued the hot metal machines; and Monotype Typography, which designed and sold typefaces. A research and development department was set up in
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
to isolate it from day to day production issues.
In 1999, 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 AssociatesTA Associates, founded in 1968, is one of the oldest private equity firms in the United States. The firm employs a hybrid strategy making growth capital investments in developing companies and acquiring mature companies through leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions...
, a private equity investment firm based in
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
. 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 Persian script, Persian
Nasta'liq' is one of the main genres and traditionally the predominant style in Persian calligraphy It was developed in Iran in the 14th and 15th centuries...
. A Chinese "keyboard" was developed to typeset Chinese characters; it consisted of 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.
In early 2000, Monotype launched Fontwise, the first software to audit desktops for licensed and unlicensed (not necessarily illegal) fonts.
In 2006-08-02, Monotype Imaging Inc. announced it has acquired Linotype GmbH, a subsidiary of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.
In 2006-09-18, Monotype Imaging Inc. announced it has acquired China Type Design Limited, a typeface design and production company based in Hong Kong. CTDL was responsible for developing Microsoft JhengHei, the default traditional Chinese interface font for
Windows VistaWindows Vista is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. The deal also secured an exclusive relationship with Creative Calligraphy Center (CCC), a font production company in
ZhuhaiZhuhai is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, and Macau to the south...
, China, with 30 production specialists.
Divisions
- Monotype Imaging Inc.: Monotype's American headquarter in Woburn, Massachusetts
Woburn is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 37,258 at the 2000 census. Woburn is located 11 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts, and just south of the intersection of I-93 and I-95....
.
- Monotype Imaging Ltd.: Monotype's UK branch in Surrey, England.
- Linotype GmbH: Monotype's European foundry.
- China Type Design Ltd.: A typeface design and production company based in Hong Kong.
- Monotype Imaging K. K.: Monotype's Japanese branch in Tokyo.
External links