My research began in the first period, when I researched
hieroglyphics and cuneiform. This form of type was still very early and was a
very long time ago, so to see the human race still wanting to communicate
through visuals was interesting to read about. There were no letters, and a
script was formed through a various mix of different complex symbols. I found
it interesting that there was so much written in hieroglyphics and cuneiform
and still died as a type of visual communication, and this makes me wonder if
it will ever happen to the English language way into the future.
I also talked about the Industrial Revolution and how it was
a time of innovation among machinery and the economy as a whole. I found this extremely
fascinating, as I was able to see the link between the tools and type we have
today and the things they had back then. It was interesting to see how much has
changed since then, and I also understood how type was made. I like to think
that the Industrial Revolution played a part in how the world is today, as
creating text and books easier meant making them faster, which meant getting
books created and available for everyone meant people being educated. Technology
was changing, and this didn't just mean type, but all sorts of new inventions,
such as the steam engine created by Thomas Newcomen. When this was made use of,
great things were accomplished.
The printing press and movable type was a big part of the
history of type, and sped up the process of individually writing out an entire
book a lot. However, in Gutenberg’s time, he created a much more efficient and
mechanical printing press, which was able to print 42 entire lines of text
simultaneously, which drastically reduced the amount of labour needed to work
and function of these machines, which ultimately led to faster creation of type
and books. When the Gutenberg Bible had been created it was available for everyone,
and not just the churches or the rich people. I was now learning and was seeing
the development of type in history and how it changed as the course of time
went on.
When the Linotype was created in 1884, it completely changed
the world and how type and text is created. It has been said that it is one of
the most notable inventions in US printing history. It was created by a man
named Ottmar Mergenthaler and was something the world had never seen before.
The name ‘Linotype’ is derived from the words ‘line of type’. The keyboard
bears a great resemblance of a typewriter, a later invention, and sticks out of
the machine. Mergenthaler was not the only one who created a mechanical
printing press, and there were many competitors. One other rival that was more
well-known than some of the others was called the Compositor, which promised a
faster and a more practical machine. In the end the Linotype was the one that
succeeded, mostly because of its simplicity and was easy to use and understand.
This is a brief summary of what I researched and learnt over
Period 1. There was a huge jump of time, from hieroglyphics to Gutenberg, and
was varied in terms of what I was seeing when I researched elements of old
type. This was mostly the hardest and most time-consuming period to complete, mainly
because of what eras I was researching and was not familiar with a lot of these
particular time periods.
