Next Thursday, September 25th, join us at Houston’s own The Printing Museum for an exclusive screening of the feature-length documentary “Linotype: The Film”, from director Doug Wilson.

Dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by Thomas Edison, the machine was invented by German-born Ottmar Mergenthaler. With its 90-character keyboard, the linotype allowed an operator to quickly and easily set complete lines of type for use in printing.

Prior to the linotype, each individual letter for the printing of newspapers, magazines, or posters had to be hand-typeset by a team of people. The process of printing was extremely labor intensive and required long hours hunched over cabinets holding drawer after drawer of fonts for typesetting.

For his revolutionary contribution to print history—spanning from late 19th century to the 1970s—Mergenthaler is considered to be the second Gutenberg.

In addition to the film screening The Printing Museum volunteer, Dan Williams, will be onsite to give demonstrations on the Museum’s working Linotype.

“Linotype: The Film” Official Trailer from Linotype: The Film on Vimeo.

Register online here.

Image credits: Linotype machine via Nick Sherman, Linotype Zeilenblock Frontansicht type slug, Otto Mergenthaler courtesy Wikipedia.org; Typesetters via Letterology