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Bookmaking Technology
Typecasting Materials
Histoire de l'invention de l'imprimerie par les monuments. (Paris: de l'Imprimerie rue de Verneuil, 1840)These two plates show the essential elements in the process of typecasting (or typefounding), including the punch, matrix, mold and finished type. The mold in the ilustration above was used to cast type which had to have its jet or tang cut off by a saw. The more sophisticated mold in the bottom illustration produced type in which the excess metal could be snapped off.
Keywords: typecasting
15th Century | Cary Collection