LBP - Issue № 3 - An Over-Saturated Sponge
Researching the Linotype, discovering rare archives, and attending typographic conferences.
Linotype Book Project - Issue № 3
An Over-Saturated Sponge
I’m writing this update from the beautiful Rose Main Reading Room at the NY Public Library after several busy days of research at Columbia University and the Typographics 2023 conference. There are about 75 of us here in the north reading room; sitting in the stately, creaky wooden chairs, working and reading at the large, ornate tables under the massive decorative ceiling and huge windows.
Libraries are very special to me — always have been. In the case of the main NYPL building: a place set apart from the hustle and bustle of the city, a place for quiet study and thought, a place to preserve the thought of women and men throughout the centuries. I know this sounds a bit too grandiose, but I don’t care. They are special and deserve to be written about in special terms.
Currently, I feel like an over-saturated sponge. That’s the only description I can come up with at the moment.
I spent two days at Columbia, two days at the conference, and two days showing old printing films and digging through the New York Times “morgue.” My time was filled with research, watching presentations, discussing the Linotype, and meeting up with old friends while making new ones in the typographic community and I’m spent — in the very best way possible.
And Then, I Walked Out of the Reading Room…
After a couple hours of organizing photos, catching up on emails, and writing the above update, I gathering my things and left the reading room. Immediately outside the reading room, is the McGraw Rotunda. And it was there that I was stunned.
I audibly gasped.
I almost lost my balance from shock.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
There right in front of me, twenty feet tall, and clear as day was a painting of Ottmar Mergenthaler and Whitelaw Reid in front of the Blower Linotype; dramatizing the day the Linotype first cast type for the New York Tribune.
WHAT?!
How did I not see this as I walked into the reading room? I guess I was too focused on getting into the room that I didn’t glance to my right and see what I was now seeing.
So, I stood there.
Staring at the painting.
Dumbfounded and surprised.
The Story of the Recorded Word
The painting depicts the often-duplicated (and most-likely fictionalized) scene of July 3, 1886: when Ottmar Mergenthaler’s Blower Linotype cast the first line of type for Whitelaw Reid’s New York Tribune. You see Mergenthaler staring off into the distance with his young, bright eyes; as if looking towards the future. And you see Whitelaw Reid with an unnamed person staring in rapture at a newspaper in Reid’s hands. In the background, you see the Brooklyn Bridge and a newsboy running along the street holding up newspapers for sale.
After what seemed like a long time, I noticed a small sign in the corner of the rotunda. It had a QR code that explained all of the paintings in the rotunda — four scenes and the ceiling itself. I learned the paintings are collectively called “The Story of the Recorded Word” and were painted as part of a Works Progress Administration program by local artist Edward Laning Jr in 1939.
Randomly and unintentionally coming across this painting was a moment of serendipity in the complete sense of the word. I’ve never heard of it before, let alone seen it reproduced or in person. It felt like a special moment of discovery saved just for me — a guy that just wants to tell the story of the Linotype in a more complete way. And so I wanted to share this moment with you, too.
Pictures. Lots and Lots of Pictures.
Due to my restriction of research time, I honestly didn’t read much of anything at the Butler Library — if there was something I hadn’t seen before, I simply took a photo of it for future reading and reference. And that’s now what I have: a backlog of 717 images of books, periodicals, magazines, and correspondence about the Linotype to sort through.
There are far too many things to share, but here are a three of my favorite finds from the research (from left to right):
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The March 1914 cover from “The Linotype Bulletin” based on the zodiac sign of Aries. The illustrated ram is made of matrices and the horns are made of slugs, with spacebands along the sides!
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Ottmar Mergenthaler’s letters to James Clephane (on his letterhead, in his writing, with his signature!) talking about improvements to the Linotype.
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“The Measure of Marksmanship” book about Mergenthaler Linotype Company’s World War II manufacturing history.
So, What’s Next?
I’ve got weeks of work on my hands to sort and categorize the photos and then further weeks of reading the books and understanding where they fit into the story of the Linotype.
I would love to have the personal letters between Mergenthaler and Clephane transcribed, but I’m afraid I don’t have the time to commit to it at the moment. Anyone interested in spending WAY too much time transcribing handwritten letters for me (I’m mostly kidding)?
In July I will be visiting the Museum of Printing and spending a couple days with Frank Romano, digging through his unmatched collection. On July 8th, I’m excited to be a part of a panel discussion at the MOP we’ve called “Shift Happens meets etaoin shrdlu” - a discussion about keyboards, typewriters, and the Linotype with Marcin Wichary, Glenn Fleishman, and Jeff Jarvis.
If you’re in the New England area, plan to come out that afternoon as it should be a fun event and make sure to introduce yourself.
Goodbye, For Now
That’s it for now. As Ottmar would say at the end of his letters:
Yours truly
D. Wilson
