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Sunday, 23 February 2020

'Piggie', The First Book Typeset Using a Typewriter

In its edition of 100 years ago this month, Typewriter Topics announced the publication of the first book typeset by a typewriter. The book was Piggie  by Eleanor Gates and the typewriter was a Hammond. The book had been produced in November 1919, toward the end of a two-month printers' strike.
Two months later, in April 1920, Popular Science outlined the process:
Eleanor Gates
During the strike, magazines such as the Literary Digest, had been published using the same process, and there was a great deal of publicity in American newspapers about the possibilities it presented:
at

3 comments:

  1. Richard P23 February 2020 at 10:51

    Interesting. I'm reminded of the Varitypers that were used during the Chicago Tribune strike in the '30s, if I recall correctly ... and I'm reminded of the Cold Hard Type volumes published by a certain Loose Dog Press.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robert Messenger23 February 2020 at 12:30

    Yes Richard, Varitypers were used at the Tribune, but it was during the 1948 Presidential election, leading to the "Dewey Wins" fiasco. I think they'd achieved proportional spacing by then?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bill M23 February 2020 at 23:16

    Interesting process.

    ReplyDelete

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