Doug Wilson Imagine this: A promising new technology that claims to take the work out of typography and save your employer huge amounts of money — sound familiar? But this talk isn’t about AI or sophisticated kerning workflows; it’s about a similar technological revolution over 100 years ago when the Linotype machine was introduced to Germany.
The Linotype was invented by a German inventor who emigrated to the United States, but how did his machine make it back to Germany and why were German printers so reluctant to accept this technology that would rapidly speed up the spread of information and create new business opportunities?
Although already rapidly changing the pace of news and journalism in America, the printers in Germany were exceptionally skeptical of this new technology. Machines which promised to “take the work of six men” (they were always men, obnoxiously) had been over-promising and under-delivering for half a century, and German printers were rightfully skeptical — “Nice try, Ottmar…”
Follow along as I share the German side of the Linotype company: how it was established, how it made its own machines, how it survived through two World Wars, and more of my exciting discoveries from my ongoing research for the Linotype Book Project.