Foundry/Plates Archives

German Museums

Thanks to Teo Pelho, from Finland, for sending in these pictures, taken at the Deutsches Museum, Munich and the Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, Germany.

I have very little information about the pictures, so if you think you can “flesh out” any of the captions, please post your suggestions here.… Read the rest

Stempel Type Foundry

Thanks to Thomas Gravemaker for sending in these photographs that he took on a visit to the Stempel Type Foundry, Darmstadt, Germany.

Thomas said: “The photographs were taken on my visit to the Stempel Foundry in Darmstadt, Germany. They’re housed in the Haus fur Industriekultur, where they have a fantastic working museum, presses, type, A complete range of Linotypes (from the earliest ones to the latest versions) and some Monotype material as well.… Read the rest

Northcliffe House, 1980s

Another batch of pictures, sent in by Ken Flemington. Says Ken: “They were taken at Northcliffe House, home of the Daily Mail, where we were printing the Sunday People. They were taken in June 1986 and I am in one of the photos.… Read the rest

Daily Mirror Foundry, 1980s

Many thanks to Ken Flemington for getting in touch with the site and sending these photographs in. Some pictures include Ken’s son!

American Machines

Ken says: “The Woods were American machines which were only used as a last resort as they were extremely unreliable and difficult to fix when little things went wrong.”… Read the rest

News of the World Foundry, 1986

Thanks to Barry Adams for sending in these pictures of the last-ever hot-metal production run of the News of the World – the UK’s biggest circulation Sunday newspaper.

In Barry’s own words: “There was a crew of 4 for the Auto and a further 3 for the Auto shaver.… Read the rest

Welcome to Metal Type

METAL TYPE is the place for printers, typesetters and newspaper workers, who fondly remember those letterpress days, to come and reminisce.

The site originally concentrated on the ingenious Linotype mechanical typesetting machine invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1884.

These machines were the mainstay of newspaper type production for almost a century and many have been preserved.… Read the rest

Editor’s Highlights . . .

Printle: Wordle for Printers Try our word puzzle – there’s a new one every week.
German “new line” linecasters The story of the most advanced linecasters ever made, with illustrations of all models.
British Print Trade Union Cards – A unique collection of typographically exquisite membership cards from Dave Bowles.
Glossary of Printing Trade Terms – George Clark’s list sheds light on a whole new language!
The Whittaker Collection – Photographs of this definitive collection of linecasters stored at the UK’s Manchester Science Museum.
Banging Out – Fleet Street Remembered -Video documentary about the UK national newspaper industry.
Farewell etaoin shrdlu – A look at the production of the last hot metal New York Times.