Printer's Device & Type-face

Printing, or "the technique of making an impression on paper from inked type" (Britain inprint.net, 2014) is considered the most important contribution to the publishing of the written word in that it "permits a large number of copies" (Britaininprint.net, 2014) to be made from the same type setting. 

Figure 16
(Image from biography.com)

Printing first developed in Korea and China during the 7th century and was first done using wooden blocks. Later on, in the 14th century, metal type printing was developed. Around the same time, craftsmen in Europe, on their own, developed similar printing techniques. In the mid-15th century, Johan Gutenberg (see Figure 16), invented movable type, or a type setting that was made up of individual letters rather than entire pages. This way, the letters could be moved to form different words and used over and over to print other books. Gutenberg's movable type printing press is regarded as a "landmark in the history of printing, and of western civilization" (Britaininprint.net, 2014).  

Type-face, or "the design of letters used in printed books" has changed dramatically since Gutenberg's time. However, many type-faces still used today, such as Roman type face, were actually designed by earlier printers in the 15th and 16th centuries (Britaininprint.net, 2014).  

While Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany, printing using movable type spread to other parts of Europe, including Italy. Italian printers designed type-faces inspired by manuscripts At first, the most common movable type face was Black-letter; however, with its flourishes and curves it was nearly illegible at times. Soon, German monks, living outside of Rome, began to avoid Black-letter, and instead used Roman letters which were appreciated for their "clarity and regularity" (Britaininprint.net, 2014).  Roman type-faces eventually spread to other European countries and were enormously popular for printing classical works as well as scholarly materials. Characteristics of Roman type-face include more rounded letters and superior "readability and appeal to the eye" (Spokane Falls Community College, 2014).

The 1924 edition of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story, with its clear, regular and rounded letters, is printed in a Roman type-face, most likely Baskerville (see Figures 17 & 18). Baskerville is a "transitional serif typeface" (Pincus, Berry & Johnson, 1953) designed by John Baskerville in 1757 in an effort to improve legibility by increasing contrast between the thin and thick areas of a letter. In general, the type-face is more circular in shape than other Roman type-faces. 

Figure 17
Close of up of type-face of Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story

Figure 18
Example of Baskerville type-face
(Image from wikipedia.org)

During the 1920's, stereotyping, or printing using papier-mache and molds (see Video 1), was popular. Therefore, it is very possible that Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story was printed using this process. Stereotyping required a mold made from papier-mache to be made of a page of type. Then molten metal was poured into the mold to create an identical metal plate. This way, the same book could be printed over and over without having to move the type for each page back again (American Printing Association, 2014). 

Video 1

A clip from a silent film which shows the process of stereotyping, 1925

(Video from Oxford Academic)