Tiny Type Museum
Glenn Fleishman finanzierte ein Mini-Type-„Museum“ per Kickstarter und verkauft ein paar davon für rund 1000 Dollar. Lustig: Er verkauft auch frisch gegossene Linotype-Zeilen aus Metal (ich weiß nicht, ob es wirklich Blei ist) aus individualisiertem Text.
The Tiny Type Museum & Time Capsule is a custom, handmade wood museum case, which holds a couple dozen genuine artifacts from the past, including a Linotype “slug” (a metal “line o’ type”) set with a message of your choosing. It also includes the book, Six Centuries of Type & Printing. Made by hand in a limited edition of 100, each museum is a unique work of art with a unique collection of artifacts. Both the museum and the book are currently in preparation.
Solche Zeilen kriegt man normalerweise gratis in jedem Industrie-Museum, das alte Linotype-Gussmaschinen ausstellt, unser kompletter Setzer-Jahrgang hatte damals welche im Darmstädter Industrie-Museum frisch gegossen auf die Hand bekommen. Die Maschinen funktionieren, indem man eine Zeile aus sogenannten Matrizen mit einer Tastatur setzt. Diese Matrizen bilden die Gussform für das Blei. Wenn die Zeile fertig ist, zieht man an einem Hebel, das Blei fließt in die Gussform und herausfällt eine Zeile aus Zeichen („a Line of Type“ –> Linotype). Fleishmans Preis von 100$ für ein bisschen geschmolzenes Metal aus einer alten Maschine berechnet sich wohl aus der „Urbane Hipster-Inflation“, wobei man fairerweise sagen muss, dass diese alten Drucktechniken vor allem eine europäische Tradition darstellen und in England erfunden wurden, während man in den USA zu diesen Zeiten vor allem auf Wood Type Printing setzte.
Jedenfalls: Schicke Idee, kann man sich nach ein paar Flohmarkt-Besuchen und ein bisschen handwerklichem Geschick selber für ‘nen Hunni zusammenbauen. Tausend Dollar sind so oder so sauwitzig.
- The book, Six Centuries of Type & Printing
- A cast piece of metal foundry type
- A cast piece of hot-metal type
- A historic piece of wood type
- A piece of wood type made fresh at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum
- A modern laser-cut piece of wood type
- A matrix (mold) from a Linotype for casting type for newspapers
- A matrix from a Monotype system for casting type for books and other purposes
- A punch used to create matrices for metal type in foundries
Three Linotype slugs—lines of type cast at once.
- A Linotype “slug,” or “line o’ type,” with custom text that you choose as part of your reward (this is also available as a separate reward)
- A section of flong, a paper mould used to make metal plates for relief printing
Pieces of flong, also called “ad mats” (advertising matrices) in the newspaper business.
- A section of stereotype, the metal plate created from a flong mold
- A sheet or section of a phototype font
A Linotype matrix with its signature notch that guided it back into a cartridge after a line was set.
- A piece of photopolymer plate, a modern letterpress digital/analog hybrid product
- Samples of printed letterpress (traditional and “digital”) and offset
- A scale-model replica of a California Job Case, a standard drawer of metal type for typesetters
- A replica or actual type gauge, used to measure metal type to figure out its size
- A commissioned work from artist and printer Stephanie Carpenter that incorporates old and new
- A “chocolate-box” sheet that describes all the artifacts included in the compartmentalized drawer in the museum box for your particular set
- A USB memory stick with public domain and licensed resources relating to the history of type and printing.
- Digital copies of two documentary films related to printing: Making Faces, directed by Rich Kegler of P22 Type Foundry, about the life and work of metal type cutter and designer Jim Rimmer; and Graphic Means, directed by Briar Levit, covering the technological and societal transition from the metal era to the digital one.
