Technological Innovations in US Periodical Printing and the British Printing Trade Reaction, 1875–90

Friday, January 5, 2018: 9:10 AM
Thurgood Marshall East (Marriott Wardman Park)
Michael Knies, University of Scranton
The modern periodical, glossy and well illustrated, was created by a combination

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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