buying type in the XXI century

Hi smvallee,

Seeing that you live closer to the USA perhaps it would be easier if you bought type with the US standard height. There are a number of Monotype casters in the US and there is the foundry type from Dale Guild type foundry. These same folks will also sell you the quads and spacing material.

[thomas]

Thanks Thomas.

My question relates mostly to know if buying from the US or UK may create inconsistencies with the spaces and quads I already own.

BTW, I spent some time tinkering with a caliper and I am surprised to verify that the type I own is indeed 0.928” high conforming to the Didot and not the American-British standard… so it looks that I’d rather purchase a full new set of type, spaces and quads from either US or UK and go to the “de-facto” global standard since nobody seems to cast type around here….

Thanks!!

Santiago

Hola, Santiago,

A little research in your own country may find a printer who still casts metal type on a Monotype machine or a Thompson caster. However, the height issue is important. UK or US cast types will be .918 height. But if you can find a local source, even if it is .918 rather than Didot height, the savings in buying it and not having the large shipping cost might be worth switching to the .918 standard. I would suggest asking at companies that still print letterpress where they get their type. Good luck!

Bob

@smvallee. The type sold on eBay on the European continent (especially Germany) would be the height that would match what you have and what you are most inclined to be able to find in your country. I see types going for very reasonable prices because it is too tall for English and American printers. Shipping is a little expensive, but you are going to encounter that anywhere you plan to purchase type.

Paul

Paul, Bob. Thanks for your insights.

In fact, yesterday I walked to a local typographic printer close to home, and confirmed that no one is casting here. I still have to check with a couple of graphic suppliers to verify if they will cast again or call it quits forever.

Since the type I already own is used (and was quite cheap), I have no problem in saving it and adopt a standard that will guarantee long-term supply, and since I do not plan to print high volumes and all the time, my type will probably last more years than myself!

I verified that indeed the type I got is based on the Didot (or european) point of 0.376mm (approx). The quotations I got from CASLON are based on the UK-USA point of 0.3515mm… so, besides type height I must take the picas-ciceros thing into account for supply.

I have a meeting with my real-boss-job…. Bye and thanks!!

Santiago

According to the Linotype One-Line Specimen book, Argentine type-height is .918”. This is not surprising since the British were deeply involved in the industrial development of Argentina.
Many countries have used more than one standard type-height, and in Latin America both .918” and .928” were used in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Nicaragua. The Latin American countries with only one type-height all used .918”. Spain used .928”, but Spain didn’t export as much printing equipment as other countries.
It isn’t that hard to adjust a platen for either height, so the question is really, where is more type available? I would guess there is more .918” being cast today in the US and UK than at the few (or one?) European sources of .928” type.

The hang up with this is the problem of having the two heights in one form , not difficult to overcome but a royal pain .
Best suggestion has to be as Parallel says is go with whats popular , look around your home ground there will be someone with a caster configured to .918 .

You will probably go with .918 for your future type.
You can stand your Didot type on its face, lock it up, planed well, and take it chase and all to a machine shop that can mill it down to .918.
It will take a shop that can do precision work and has a clear understanding of what you need.
Buena fortuna

to inky and others

Thank goodness that someone has suggested milling the foot off type which is higher than .918.

I had thought of suggesting it, but I had not seen it done, so was wary of suggesting that, the outcome of any disaster does not bear thinking about!

[See my comment about the linotype slugs which
had come out while the back knife of the lino was not working and how we were able to save them.]

I would suggest getting the machine shop to do only a small quantity of type as a trial, but enough that the chase does not rock during milling, there’s obvious ways around that; you need someone to do the milling who is really interested in their work, someone who understands the very basic basics.

During WW2, the local foundry in this small town (at that time) was successful in making munitions machinery which had been a failed project at the biggest engineering shops in Australia, because someone had seen how it was done. Now we have a facility which can manufacture any size bearing set [specials to order] up to about 9 metres (about 30 feet), but I have not seen how they make them, or how they transport them though I can guess — we have in the district a heavy transport trailer with 64 wheels, and also a big one.

The best machinist I had access to did his apprenticeship in another country before coming here, on aircraft engines and printing machinery; he is not available now. He was the old-style worker who agonised for days because he needed to cut a part of his workbench off to make room for another machine.

Alan.

P.S.: recent comments in Briar Press have been wide-ranging and impress me as being very very useful and what we refer to as “informed” in Orstraylyer; in other words, combining knowledge, ingenuity, intelligence and experience. — A.

I can only say one thing… YOU ROCK PALS.

I have two possibilities here. One will be to spend around U$D 1000 to buy from a local guy a 21 drawer cabinet full of more type than I will possibly need in a lifetime. This will be an issue since at home I do not have much space for a cabinet this big unless I get rid of a desk… This will be on the type height that’s in use here (0.928”) and Didot-point based.

The other way around (and smarter for long-ish term supply) would be to purchase small typesets from Caslon or other UK/US supplier in the “global de facto” 0.918” and smaller point size standard (and keep the desk).

I will see how bad our customs can be and how much will be the overall cost. In the future, if this turns into a bigger hobby, I will need the space, the type and the printer so the investmet will be bigger no matter what type I purchase today!!

Best and thanks again!

Be careful and think your purchase throgh very thoroughly.
The cabinet may contain a great deal of type, but is it the type you like and will use. Don’t be impressed with quantity alone.
I speak from some experience. I have much, BIG MUCH,
tanto mucho type. I got it all in big purchases at auctions and got it pretty cheaply. It came in quantities of ten to fifty cases, or standing on galleys. Most from old print shops that were closed. Lots of type, but much of it is not real usable for the hobby printer.

My advice – use your local type height.
If you can find one cabinet with types within in a few days (USD 1000 is far too much), you should also be able to find other types locally – and probably also in smaller quantities. This is the easiest and cheapest way to get types. If you don’t need all the types you purchase in a cabinet or the fonts are too big – sell the remaining types etc to other local/regional hobby printers.
If you decide to buy types in Europe/USA, be aware that the fonts cast normally contains the characters used in the country. Unless you find some fonts in Spain – or just want to make texts in English, you will have big trouble with the Spanish Ñ and the accents. Of course you should be able to buy the special characters by the foundries, but it isn’t standard and will cost you.
I use as Dane a type height on 23,56 mm or 0.928 in., but I have also a few fonts purchased in USA and UK. I have no problems using the two type heights and point systems together, as long as I have the correct spacing material for my oversee types. The difference in type height is fixed with a few pieces of paper.
Gott grüß die Kunst
Jens

Just to update you on how I proceeded.
I finally located an old printer that wanted to sell a “comode” with 24 drawers full of type. The esthetics of “the coffin” as we christened it are OK, and fitted on a corner of our laundry+hobby room. I’ve got most types casted in the 80s (1980s, I mean) in pretty good shape with lots of ornaments, differents line formats (they used to print forms for local factories) and other goodies. MUUUUCH More type that I will probably be able to use, but if the hobby grows and turns into a more serious thing (with a bigger printer), I will probably thank the investment.

I will make some measurements regarding type height and point size in order to add… but so far it looks like 0.928 height and didot-point based. Let me check.

Best!

Hi smvallee! I’m from Argentina too! Did you find this old printer in Mercado Libre?

Saludos!