The Linotype changed the printing world 140 years ago
The Linotype machine was the invention that absolutely powered the mass-printing industry. Thomas Edison, it is said, called it the "Eighth Wonder of the World.”
"Trying to imagine our modern world without printed communication is like trying to imagine a desert without sand or an ocean without water.
Virtually everything we do is geared to printed communication.
The information required in a democratic society is distributed to mass audiences via brochures, advertising leaflets, billboards and other media as well as the ever-present newspapers, magazines and books."
The Linotype machine was the invention that absolutely powered the mass-printing industry. Thomas Edison, it is said, called it the "Eighth Wonder of the World.”
The world of letterpress, lithography, and rotogravure printing has almost disappeared. Typesetting is not dependent upon the skilled hands of compositors, or the nimble fingers of linotype and monotype operators. And who needs to know that type high is .918 of an inch? Who cares to differentiate between a stereotype and a zinc? Where would you find a matrix? You won’t find a hell box anywhere today. Or a frisket. Or quoins. There is no longer a job for a printer’s devil.
Primarily the world of advertising, although you’ll find lots of commentary on technology and journalism. We seek to illustrate how advertising changed as technology evolved and how copywriting and artwork reflected variations in societal norms of the last century.
Advertising in the last century, print advertising specifically, showcased life as it was lived across the western world. Advertisements simply announced the better mousetraps, how they were better and where they could be purchased. Consumers did beat paths to advertisers’ doors, at least to those whose messages were presented creatively.
And that is what this website is all about. It is not an anthology of great advertising. It’s just an advertisement. It doesn’t sell. It tells stories, called posts today on websites like this, about advertising creativity in print media of the past.
Explore the stories, marvel at the creativity or lack of it, compare these print advertisements with today’s commercials on broadcast media, and shed a little tear for days gone by.
Sleeping cars, dining cars and Pullman parlour cars of transcontinental trains were top of the line for privileged passengers.
Heinz Tomato Juice advertisement uses imagery and symbolism to promote the product in The American Home magazine, June 1939
It was said that “9 out of 10 stars use Lux” but could the soap prevent runs in silk stockings? Could it help the clever wife guard against S.A.?
"If your mother won’t pay a bit more to give you this cordless shaver, it isn’t because she’s pinching pennies."
Before there was Amazon.com there was Montgomery Ward which published catalogues to sell just about everything using direct mail.
Colgate Palmolive and Procter & Gamble had competed for the bar-soap market for more than half a century at the time these advertisements were published
Washington Post Magazine Columnist Margaret Sullivan started out in a vibrant local-newspaper industry. Now that industry is vanishing. Writing about the decline of local news, Ms. Sullivan writes: “The consequences of rapidly vanishing local newspapers may not always be obvious, but they are insidious. Between 2008 and 2017, American newspapers cut 45 percent of their newsroom staffs; even deeper cutbacks came in the years after that. Some of the most trusted sources of news are slipping away, never to return.”
You can read Margaret Sullivan's concerns in Washington Post Magazine and in her book: Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy
Every advertiser begins by buying blank space. The challenge is to fill the space creatively. These trade paper advertisements by The New Yorker are outstanding
There’s an engrossing history behind this unsophisticated all-type 1926 magazine advertisement for William Durant's Star Cars.
Sweep your eyes over the magnificent length of the 1941 Nash. Feast your eyes on its sleek styling.
These 1939 advertisements for Chrysler, De Soto and Dodge automobiles called for the combined talents of copywriter, artist and printer.
The story goes that a skinny kid on the beach—a 97 pound weakling—was humiliated when a bully kicked sand in his face. The kid was the young Charles Atlas.
A noted graphic designer, he was an expert in typefaces, developing many himself and “fixing” others. His work adorns The New York Times. Mr. Benguiat was an important figure in the design world for a number of reasons. According to his citation in the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2000, he helped establish the International Typeface Corporation, the first independent licensing company for type designers, and became its vice president. He also taught for almost 50 years at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.
Read about Mr. Benguiat in this account
from The New York Times, October 18, 2020
This Dictaphone endorsement by Kalamazoo business leader ran in the June 1930 issue of World’s Work magazine, published from 1900 to 1932
Babies in 1903 grew stronger and healthier when fed Eskay's baby food, especially in hot weather. Was it effective in treating Cholera Infantum?
First there was the unspoken problem. Halitosis! Then a friend would offer a solution. Use Listerine! Then happiness!
The art director's typography decisions showed little understanding of effective design in this Yellow Pages advertisement that appeared in Printer's Ink
LIFE, the largely all-photographic American news magazine, gave as much space and importance to images as to words
More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette! Really? What is the right message and who are the right people targeted by this advertisement?