of improvements in printing technology during the second half of the 19th century,
primarily between 1875 and 1890. American type founders produced a variety of
fancy typefaces designed for job and magazine printing. These typefaces created a
shockwave amongst printers in the US and the UK. They could not have been
created and effectively printed without a series of innovations: electrotyping,
calendered and coated paper, and hard-packing of printing press. The innovation
of electrotyping allowed type designers to cut punches with delicate lines that
would not survive being driven into a matrix. The punch would be electrotyped
creating a matrix from which the fonts of delicate typefaces could be easily
replicated. The intricate electrotyped lines printed better on dry-calendered and
clay-coated papers, whose surfaces were harder and smoother than the traditional
damp papers, which absorbed more ink and would blur the lines of delicate faces.
American printers also used the technique of hard-packing the cylinder of the
printing press for high quality printing work. Hard-packing meant covering the
cylinder with a glazed board instead of a woolen blanket. In the 1880s, fancy
American faces "invaded" the UK, causing excitement and consternation amongst
printers, since most were unable to print them properly. British magazines were
often printed on rougher paper that needed to be dampened before printing,
making the printing of fine-lined typefaces (as well as later illustration processes
such as photogravure) impossible. British printers did not widely adopt the coated
and calendered paper and hard-packing techniques necessary to effectively utilize
the new imported faces and newly-developed illustration processes until the mid-to-
late 1880s. This presentation will discuss the printing innovations that made the
modern periodical possible and their reception in the United Kingdom.
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