Practical Typecasting by Rehak Theo (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fair. COVER (hardcover, no dust jacket)- moderate wear; minor stains, clean overall. PAGES- inscription by author inside front, no other writing; slight stains, clean overall; no tears. Not ex-library. Book.

cloth. 4to. cloth. xviii, 221 pages. First edition. Spine slightly spotted, else a near fine copy. This title has become a very rare book. The history of practical manuals on typefounding is quite short; the dominant tradition in this craft was on-the-job training. In the 1990s, the commercial importance of making metal type declined, and large portions of this highly-developed technology are in serious jeopardy of disappearing. This work is the accumulated technical knowledge of making metal types. The author has been trained by the master-founders at the American Type Founders Company (ATF) in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Through the development of the famous Barth Automatic Casting Machine, this foundry has produced the finest, most solid and highest quality type ever made. Although some of the described techniques are based on this machine, the procedures outlined are adaptable to making superior type on other equipment. These operations have been part of the unwritten tradition at ATF for many years, and their preservation is the vehicle for their transmission to future generations. Section One covers typecasting machines and techniques and contains chapters on "The Basic Principles of Casting Type and the Hand Mold," "Pivotal Casting Machines," "Monotype Display Machines," "The Thompson Caster" and "The Foundry Automatics." Section Two deals with the "service crafts" and contains chapters on "Finishing Type," "Maintenance of Equipment," "Matrix Engineering," "The Benton Engraver," "The Gorton Engraver," "Electros," "Making Matrices from Type" and "Design Guidelines." Illustrated in black-and-white, this book also includes appendices, a glossary, a select bibliography and an index.