Monotype Imaging

Monotype Imaging Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TYPE)

is a Delaware corporation based in Woburn, Massachusetts. It specialises in digital typesetting and
typeface design as well as text and imaging solutions
for use with consumer electronics devices.[2] Monotype
Imaging Holdings and its predecessors and subsidiaries
have been responsible for many developments in printing
technologyin particular the Monotype machine, which
was the rst fully mechanical typesetter, and the Linotype
machineand the design and production of typefaces in
the 19th and 20th centuries. Monotype developed many
of the most widely used typeface designs, including Times
New Roman, Gill Sans, Arial, Bembo and Albertus.
Monotype has carried out a series of acquisitions from
2000 onwards of companies such as Linotype GmbH,
International Typeface Corporation, Bitstream Inc. and
FontShop. This has gained it the rights to many further
widely known designs, including Helvetica, ITC Franklin
Gothic, Optima, Avant Garde, Palatino and FF DIN. It
also owns the MyFonts online retailer used by many in- Monotype caster
dependent font design studios.

for quality printing - such as books. In contrast, the

Linotype machine formed a complete line of type in one
bar. Editing these required replacing an entire line (and
1.1 Monotype System
if the replacement ran onto another line, the rest of the
paragraph). But Linotype slugs were easier to handle if
Main article: Monotype System
moving a complete section of text around a page. This
The Lanston Monotype Machine Company was founded was more useful for quick printing - such as newspaby Tolbert Lanston in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in pers.
1887. Lanston had a patented mechanical method of The typesetting machines were continually improved in
punching out metal types from cold strips of metal which
the early years of the 20th century, with a typewriter style
were set (hence typesetting) into a matrix for the printing keyboard for entering the type being introduced in 1906.
press. In 1896 Lanston patented the rst hot metal
This arrangement addressed the need to vary the space
typesetting machine and Monotype issued Modern Con- between words so that all lines were the same length.
densed, its rst typeface. The licenses for the Lanston
type library have been acquired by P22, a digital type The keyboard operator types the copy, each key punching
holes in a roll of paper tape that will control the separate
foundry based in Bualo, New York.
caster. A drum on the keyboard indicates to the operator
In a search for funding, the company set up a branch in the space required for each line. This information is also
London in 1897 under the name Lanston Monotype Cor- punched in the paper. Before tting the tape to the caster
poration Ltd. In 1899 a new factory was built in Salfords it is turned over so that the rst holes read on each line
near Redhill in Surrey where it has been located for over set the width of the variable space. The subsequent holes
a century. The company was of sucient size to justify determine the position of a frame, or die case, that holds
the construction of its own Salfords railway station.
the set of matrices for the face being used. Each matrix
The Monotype machine worked by casting letters from is a rectangle of copper recessed with the shape of the
hot metal (molten metal) as pieces of type. Thus letter. Once the matrix is positioned over the mould that
spelling mistakes could be corrected by adding or re- forms the rest of the piece of type being cast, molten type
moving individual letters. This was particularly useful metal is injected.

History

1.2

2 DECLINE

Typefounding

to dierent sizes and even colour on the page, essential

qualities for balanced body text.[8][9][10][11]
Historian James Mosley, who worked closely with Monotype in the 1950s and onwards, has commented:
The English Monotype Corporation of the
interwar years looks in retrospect rather like
one of the great public bodies of the period, for
example the British Broadcasting Corporation
or London Transportbenevolent monopolies
ruled by autocrats who revelled in the role of
patron of the arts on a scale exceeding that of
Italian Renaissance princes.
Monotype enjoyed, in Britain at least,
something approaching a monopoly in
book and better-quality magazine typesettingMonotype exploited the glamour of
its new typefaceswith brilliant publicity,
for which Morison and his devoted young
American recruit Beatrice Warde were partly
responsible.[12]

A sample of various Monotype designs in digital format.

Monotypes role in design history is not merely due to

their supply of printing equipment but due to their commissioning of many of the most important typefaces of
the twentieth century.
The companys rst font of 1896 was a rather generic
design, now named Modern, inuenced by Bodoni and
Scotch Roman designs. However, by the 1920s the companys British branch was well known for commissioning
popular, historically inuenced designs that revived some
of the best typefaces of the past, with particular attention to the early period of printing from the Renaisssance
to the late eighteenth-century.[3][4][5][6] This series of releases was a major part of the typographic renaissance
of the period, an expansion of the arts and crafts movement interest in printing into the more workaday world
of general-purpose printing. Key executives of the company in this period included historian and adviser Stanley
Morison, publicity manager Beatrice Warde and engineering experts Frank Hinman Pierpont and Fritz Steltzer
(both recruited from the German printing industry, although Pierpont was American), under managing director William Isaac Burch, who led the company from 1924
to 1942.[7] Despite tensions within the company, particularly between the historically minded faction of Morison
and Warde and Pierpont in Salfords, notable typefaces
commissioned included Gill Sans, Times New Roman
and Perpetua, and the company maintained high standards of development allowing it to produce designs with
good spacing, careful adaptation of the same basic design

To promote its image, the company ran a magazine, the

Monotype Recorder, over most of the twentieth century,
and also ran a compositor (typesetter operator) training
school in London.[13] In 1936, the company was oated
on the London Stock Exchange and became the Monotype Corporation Ltd.
The American branch lagged behind the British in artistic reputation. Their designs are now often rather obscure, since (unlike products from the British branch) few
have been made widely available through bundling with
Microsoft products. The company employed Frederic
Goudy on several serif font projects which were well received at the time, and on sta type designer Sol Hess,
who created the geometric sans-serif Twentieth Century
as a competitor to the German Futura.[14][15][16][17]

2 Decline

The founding-stone of the former Monotype House in London,

now in the collection of the Type Museum.

Monotype entered a decline from the 1960s onwards.

This was caused by the reduction in use of hot metal
typesetting and replacement with phototypesetting and
lithography in mass-market printing.[18][19][20] This offered considerable eciencies, such as no need to print

2.1

Consolidation and reorganization

books from solid metal type, quicker setting of type

and a reduced number of operators needed.[21][22] It also
promised a more diverse and exciting range of fonts than
that possible with hot metal, where it is necessary to
own life-size matrices for every size of every font to be
used.[23]
Monotype made the transition to cold type and began to
market its own Monophoto phototypesetting systems,
but these suered from problems. Its rst devices were
heavily based on hot metal machinery, with glass pictures of characters which would be reproduced on photographic paper replacing the matrices used to cast metal
type.[24][25] While this reduced the need for retraining,
the resulting devices often set type slowly compared to
legacy-free next-generation devices from providers such
as Photon and Compugraphic, and were often more expensive. Its devices were slow to incorporate use of electronics, and while its type library was of high quality,
changing tastes and the development of other companies libraries competed with this.[26] Its type library was
also easily pirated, since fonts have only limited copyright protection. The company was eventually split into
three divisions: Monotype International, which manufactured spinning mirror switched laser beam phototypesetters; Monotype Limited, which continued the hot metal
machines; and Monotype Typography, which designed
and sold typefaces. A research and development department was set up in Cambridge to isolate it from day to
day production issues.

3
bought the Monotype Corporation Ltd. and Monotype
Inc. (excluding Monotype Typography) and ve other
direct subsidiary companies in France, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, and Singapore. Monotype Systems Ltd.
was the adopted name for the new organization with Peter Purdy as Chairman, the name Monotype was under
license from Monotype Typography Ltd which retained
the trademark Monotype. Monotype Systems Ltd. focused on selling pre-press software and hardware, raster
image processors and workow.
Cromas Holdings reorganized its publishing interests
with the formation of the International Publishing Asset
Holding Ltd. eectively controlling Monotype Systems
Ltd., QED Technology Ltd., and GB Techniques Ltd.
Monotype Systems Ltd. purchased Berthold Communications; the UK subsidiary of the German composing
equipment supplier.
In June 2002, Monotype Systems Limited was rebranded, IPA Systems Limited, as this marked the end
of the existing trademark licence with Monotype Corporation. In the US Monotype Inc became alfaQuest Technologies Limited. Both companies still sell pre-press software and hardware.

In 1999, Agfa-Compugraphic acquired the Monotype

Corporation, which was renamed Agfa Monotype. In
late 2004, after six years under the Agfa Corporation,
the Monotype assets were acquired by TA Associates,
a private equity investment rm based in Boston. The
Monotype in the UK continued to enjoy prestige through company was incorporated as Monotype Imaging, with a
the 1970s with the patronage of major British printers focus on the companys traditional core competencies of
such as the university presses at Oxford and Cambridge; typography and professional printing.
it also enjoyed some success with its Lasercomp laser- Monotype was the rst company to produce a digital verbased typesetting system from the 1970s onwards, devel- sion of the handwritten Persian script, Persian Nasta'liq.
oped by the Cambridge research group.[26][27] However, A Chinese keyboard was developed to typeset Chinese
new technology and nally publishing software such as characters; it consisted of a book with a stylus. As the
Quark XPress and Aldus PageMaker running on general- pages were turned, the page number was detected elecpurpose computers ate away at its competitiveness in the trically and this was combined with the position of the
market of complete typesetting solutions by the 1990s.[28] character selected by the stylus on a large grid.
Monotype, however, has continued in business, for in- In early 2000, Monotype launched Fontwise, the rst
stance marketing typeface designs to third-party buy- software to audit desktops for licensed and unlicensed
ers, computing companies such as Microsoft (many fonts (not necessarily illegal) fonts.
on Microsoft computers in particular are Monotypedesigned) and companies and organisations such as On 2 October 2006, Monotype Imaging Inc. announced
London Transport and the UK parliament requiring cus- that it acquired Linotype GmbH, a subsidiary of Heideltom digital typefaces.[29][30][31] Much of its metal type berger Druckmaschinen AG.
equipment and archives were donated to the Type Mu- On 18 September 2006, Monotype Imaging Inc. anseum collection in London; other materials are held at St nounced that it acquired China Type Design Limited, a
Bride Library.[32]
typeface design and production company based in Hong
Kong. CTDL was responsible for developing Microsoft
JhengHei, the default traditional Chinese interface font
for Windows Vista. The deal also secured an exclusive
2.1 Consolidation and reorganization
relationship with Creative Calligraphy Center (CCC), a
In 1992 The Monotype Corporation Ltd. appointed font production company in Zhuhai, China, with 30 proAdministrative Receivers on 5 March and four days later duction specialists.
Monotype Typography Ltd. was established. Cromas On 11 December 2009, Monotype Imaging Inc. anHoldings, an investment company based in Switzerland,

nounced that it acquired Planetweb, Inc., a developer specialized in applications and development tools for embedded devices.

Gill Sans

On 8 December 2010, Monotype Imaging announced the

acquisition of Ascender Corp., a provider of fonts and
font technologies used in computers, mobile devices, consumer electronics and software products.

Horley Old Style

In March 2012, Monotype acquired Bitstream Inc., a digital font retailer. The deal also gave Monotype ownership of the MyFonts font sale website used by many
independent designers and its WhatTheFont recognition
service.[33]
On 15 July 2014, Monotype Imaging Inc. announced that
it acquired FontShop, the last large independent digital
font retailer.[34]

DIVISIONS

Goudy Old Style

Imprint
Joanna
Klang
Matura
Menhart
Mercurius Script
Monotype Grotesque
Octavian

Typefaces
Apollo
Albertina (Chris Brand, 1966)
Albertus (Berthold Wolpe, 193240)
Albion (1910)
Arial (Nicholas, Saunders et al., 1982)
Ashley Crawford
Ashley Script
Bembo (1929)
Blado
Bodoni
Bulmer
Castellar
Centaur (Rogers & Warde, 1929)
Colonna
Condensa
Dante
Ehrhardt
Emerson
Engravers
Felix Titling
Festival Titling
Forte
Fournier

Pastonchi (1928)[35][36]
Pegasus
Pepita
Perpetua
Photina
Poliphilus
Plantin
Solus (Eric Gill, 1929)
Spectrum
Tempest Titling (Berthold Wolpe)
Times New Roman
Twentieth Century
Van Dijck
Walbaum

4 Divisions
Monotype Imaging Inc.: Monotypes American
headquarters in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Monotype Imaging Ltd.: Monotypes UK branch in
Surrey, England.
Linotype GmbH: Monotypes European aliate in
Bad Homburg (Germany).
China Type Design Ltd.: A typeface design and production company based in Hong Kong.
Monotype Imaging K. K.: Monotypes Japanese
branch in Tokyo.

See also
Linotype typesetting machine

References

[1] Board of Directors. Monotype Imaging. Retrieved

March 11, 2016.
[2] 2008 SEC Annual Report:.

[16] Rogers, Bruce (January 1923). Printers Note. Monotype: A Journal of Composing Room Eciency: 23. This
issue of Monotype is set in a trial font of a new version of
Garamonds design ... the type ornaments, modelled on
16th century ones, will also be available.
[17] LTC Garamont. MyFonts. LTC. Retrieved 3 December
2015.
[18] Third Tripartite Technical Meeting for the Printing and Allied Trades, Geneva, 1990. International Labour Organization. 1 January 1990. pp. 1229. ISBN 978-92-2107441-0.

[3] McKitterick, David (2004). A history of Cambridge University Press. (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521308038.

[19] Reports of Tax Cases. H.M. Stationery Oce. 1993. pp.

470507.

[4] Modern. MyFonts. Monotype. Retrieved 1 July 2015.

[20] Simon Eliot; Jonathan Rose (24 August 2011). A Companion to the History of the Book. John Wiley & Sons.
pp. 286289. ISBN 978-1-4443-5658-8.

[5] Shinn, Nick. Lacunae (PDF). Codex. Retrieved 1 July

2015.
[6] Badaracco, Claire (1991). Innovative Industrial Design
and Modern Public Culture: The Monotype Corporation,
19221932 (PDF). Business & Economic History. Business History Conference. 20 (second series): 226233.
Retrieved 19 December 2015.
[7] Badaracco, Claire (1996). Rational Language and Print
Design in Communication Management. Design Issues.
12 (1): 26. doi:10.2307/1511743.
[8] Fonts designed by Monotype Sta. Identifont. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
[9] Mosley, James (2001). Review: A Tally of Types. Journal of the Printing History Society. 3, new series: 6367.
The surviving records of the progress of some of the classic typefaces demonstrate that their exemplary nal quality was due to a relentless willingness on the part of 'the
works to make and remake the punches over and over
again until the result was satisfactory. The progression
of series 270 from the weak Poliphilus Modernised to the
familiar Bembo is an object lesson in the success of this
technique. That it was [engineering manager Frank] Pierpont himself who was central to this drive for quality is
made abundantly clear by the abrupt changes that are seen
after his retirement in 1937.
[10] Rhatigan, Daniel (September 2014). Gill Sans after Gill
(PDF). Forum (28): 37. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
[11] Rhatigan, Dan. Time and Times again. Monotype. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
[12] Mosley, James. Eric Gills Perpetua Type. Fine Print.
[13] Monotype Recorder back issues. Metal Type Library
collection. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
[14] Goudy, Frederic (1946). A half-century of type design and
typography, vol 1. New York: The Typophiles. pp. 121
124. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
[15] Shaw, Paul. An appreciation of Frederic W. Goudy as a
type designer. Retrieved 12 July 2015.

[21] United States.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (1984).
Occupational Outlook Handbook. Bureau of Labor Statistics. pp. 3167.
[22] Philip G. Altbach; Edith S. Hoshino (8 May 2015).
International Book Publishing: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-134-26126-0.
[23] Mosley, James (2003). Reviving the Classics: Matthew
Carter and the Interpretation of Historical Models. In
Mosley, James; Re, Margaret; Drucker, Johanna; Carter,
Matthew. Typographically Speaking: The Art of Matthew
Carter. Princeton Architectural Press. pp. 3134. ISBN
9781568984278. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
[24] Helmut Kipphan (31 July 2001). Handbook of Print Media: Technologies and Production Methods. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 1045. ISBN 978-3-54067326-2.
[25] The Monotype: How It Works. Monotype. 1957. pp. 10
16. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
[26] Boag, Andrew (2000). Monotype and Phototypesetting
(PDF). Journal of the Printing History Society: 5777. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
[27] Maw, Martin (November 2013). History of Oxford University Press: Volume III: 1896 to 1970. OUP Oxford. pp.
277307. ISBN 978-0-19-956840-6.
[28] Romano, Frank. The day the typesetting industry died.
What They Think. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
[29] Castle, Bob; Carpenter, Victoria.
Book Antiqua Parliamentary (Freedom of Information request)".
Whatdotheyknow.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
[30] Walters, John; Esterson, Simon. Features: Robin
Nicholas. Eye magazine. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
[31] Shaw, Paul; Carter, Matthew. Some history about Arial.
Paul Shaw Letter Design. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
[32] Mosley, James. The materials of typefounding. Type
Foundry. Retrieved 14 August 2015.

[33] Shankland, Stephen. Monotype gets more digital, buys

Bitstream font biz. CNet. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
[34] Monotype Acquires FontShop International. Monotype.
July 16, 2014.
[35] Pastonchi. Fonts.com.
September 2015.

Monotype.

Retrieved 15

[36] Pastonchi: a specimen of a new letter for use on the

Monotype. The Library. s4-IX (4): 421422. 1928.
doi:10.1093/library/s4-IX.4.421.

EXTERNAL LINKS

Monotype fonts in metal type:

The Press & Letterfoundry of Michael and Winifred
Bixler - artisanal printing using a historic Monotype
machine
Specimens of Monotype fonts in hot metal
Monotype hot metal fonts from M & H Type
Chestnut Press - other sample images
British Printing Society

External links

Corporate information and ocial digital font releases:

Ocial website
China Type Design Limited
Monotype online store
customfonts by Monotype Imaging
Fontwise
FontExplorer X Pro - Client and Server Font Management
Monotype Imaging Acquires Linotype
IPA Systems Ltd
alfaQuest Technologies Limited
P22 digitisations:
Lanston Monotype fonts (digitised by P22)
On the Monotype System:
Monotype keyboard and caster video lectures
Metal Type - site on Monotype and other printing
history, many diagrams, manuals and other documents
Ozin Parnassia - Type Foundry
Parnassia index of Monotype order numbers
Metal and early phototype period publicity material:
Metal Type website library section - archive material
includes:
Monotype Recorder - collection of digitised
issues, not complete
Monotype specimen sheet from the 1950s

For specimen images of specic fonts, see individual

Wikipedia articles.

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Monotype Imaging Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotype_Imaging?oldid=748388556 Contributors: Zundark, SGBailey,

Flamurai, Charles Matthews, Bearcat, Btljs, Wereon, Alan Liefting, Neosys~enwiki, Gzornenplatz, Toytoy, Tooki, Chmod007,
M1ss1ontomars2k4, Rich Farmbrough, AdamAtlas, .:Ajvol:., Hulleye, Guy Harris, Ricky81682, Kusma, Alai, Woohookitty, ^demon,
BD2412, Mucky Duck, FlaBot, CarolGray, Stormwatch, Wavelength, Potpublstu, Squeed, Ms2ger, Kevinb3, DocendoDiscimus, SmackBot, Goldshbutt, Chris the speller, JDowning, Don McCahill, Jacob Poon, Stepho-wrs, Greenshed, Grishalevit, Zadignose, Acdx, Bendybendy, Sailor iain, Dpmarshall, Pablohoney77, Neelix, Cydebot, Dynaow, Headbomb, Zulkkur, Tirk, EdJohnston, WinBot, Breni
Whelan, Zigzig20s, Magioladitis, GearedBull, Dutchman Schultz, Herbythyme, Quadibloc, TreasuryTag, Shortride, Genium, SieBot, OatmealSmith, Martarius, Mild Bill Hiccup, Niceguyedc, Mirabiledictum, HandAndEye, DumZiBoT, Dthomsen8, Felix Folio Secundus,
Addbot, Noozgroop, Delimata, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot,
, Grolltech, Surv1v4l1st, HRoestBot, Tom.Reding, IlyaMart, Ebooker2,
EmausBot, Herring Pleb, Torturella, Jasonanaggie, ZroBot, AvicAWB, RedSoxFan274, Berndo, CopperSquare, Morgan Riley, KendallK1, MrDerrik, Blythwood, RaphaelQS, Bender the Bot and Anonymous: 35

8.2

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8.3

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