Linotype Letter Drawings

Collection

Identifier: 004-03-02

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection includes thousands of drawings of letterforms as well as a selection of keyboard maps for use with the fonts.

Dates

circa 1900-1970

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open to research.

Conditions Governing Use

PPL does not claim copyright to this collection. Users of this item are responsible for determining copyright restrictions.

Biographical / Historical

The Linotype & Machine Company was formed as a merger of two companies in 1903 (see Romano, History of the Linotype Company, pages 65 and following), but it traces its history back to the original Merganthal Linotype Company founded in the 1880s in America. The Linotype hot metal typesetting machinery allowed type to be set by keyboard using a system of reusable matrices that formed a single slug with a line of type. The process was widespread before the arrival of digital typesetting, especially in the printing of newspapers.

The drawings that make up this collection represent single letters (sometimes with multiple diacritic marks) and ligatures drawn at a scale much larger than the size of the eventual type. Most of the drawings range from approximately 14 to 17 inches per side, but through the use of a pantographic engraving technique could produce matrices for type as small as 7 or 8 point, for instance.

The drawings indicate not only the final shape of a particular letter, but also edits made over the course of time, as they were used across decades.

Extent

25.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Arabic

Malayalam

German

Greek, Modern (1453-)

Gujarati

Hebrew

Persian

Chinese

Russian

Tamil

Telugu

Urdu

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection is divided into three series: 1) Drawings for fonts in non-Latin languages and writing systems, 2) Drawings for fonts in Latin languages, 3) related material, such as keyboard maps.

Custodial History

The drawings were purchased in 2017 from Prints Charming Soho, Inc. This collection represents one portion of the full collection, which was disbursed to multiple institutions, and it seems that some drawings were sold or donated individually.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased in January, 2017 from Prints Charming Soho.

Related Materials

The majority of the Latin typeface drawings were acquired by the Letterform Archive in San Francisco. For more information, see the organization's blog post: https://letterformarchive.org/news/linotype-drawings/