1903 Monotype Advertisements

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In 1903, the Monotype advertising campaign in The Inland Printer changed from one run directly by the Lanston Monotype Machine Company to one run by their new sole selling agents, [Henry A. Wise] Wood & [Paul] Nathan Co. (as announced by Lanston Monotype in Vol. 30, No. 5 (February, 1903), p. 813). This began with a straightforward but dull ad in the March 1903 number (it looks like a modern PowerPoint presentation), but with Vol. 31, No. 1 (April, 1903), this changed to what became a series of quite classy (and effective) advertisements done as multipage inserts displaying difficult material set by Monotype. None of these ads, however, showed what a Monotype looked like or described how it did what it did. In Vol. 32, No. 2 (November 1903), they printed a longer insert which did just that (8 pages following page 168). It is a very nice technical marketing document, and an excellent place to start when understanding the Monotype.

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The November 1903 ad, above, hinted at "AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREATEST IMPORTANCE" in the next issue. This was, as it happens, not an idle boast. In the Vol. 32, No. 3 (December, 1903) ad (a four page insert following page 328), they announced an "attachment" which would permit the Monotype composition caster to cast individual sorts and complete fonts, in addition to composed material. They offered to retrofit this attachment at no cost on existing casters, and to supply it at no additional cost on future machines. "It will add to every printing-office, at no expense, a thoroughly equipped type foundry wherein type can be cast not only for use by the MONOTYPE composing machine, but for display work of every description and for sale at a handsome profit if desired." ATF must have loved this.

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