Printing Films

Feb 8, 2026 · 35m

If you ever wondered how a typeface went from a designer’s drawing to a finished, cast piece of type from the Monotype; this is the film for you. Starting with an original drawing, this film goes through the painstaking and multi-step process of creating a single typeface in a single style in a single size for the Monotype composition caster. It shows the entire process of type design and creation at Monotype including tracing using custom-made projectors, making a technical drawing (showcasing the drawing office with many women workers), making a pattern plate using a pantograph, creating a brass pattern, using a pantograph to engrave a punch, punching the brass to make matrices for the full matrix case, and finally casting the letters in type metal using a composition caster. Ca. 1955

Feb 15, 2026 · 24m

This film was created to explain how to properly care and maintain a Monotype Casting Machine mould block (where the molten hot-metal is cast into the matrices). For anyone interested in the inner-workings of the Monotype Casting Machine, there is a great, slow-motion explanation with parts of the machine in clear plastic so you can see how it functions. Year: 1965

Feb 22, 2026 · 28m

The Monotype is a wonder of mechanics and engineering and in this film you will see the process of manufacturing the Monotype keyboard and composition caster from beginning to end. The film starts by showing the Salfords, UK train station and entrance into the Monotype factory, then shows all of the milling, drilling, cutting, and casting required to make the casting machine. After that, we see the keyboard and paper-punch apparatus being constructed. The film ends with footage of testing and calibrating the machine and images of the Monotypes being shipped all over the world. Ca. 1955

Mar 1, 2026 · 14m

This film was created to convince printing and typesetting shops to send their employees to the school to learn Monotype skills. After a strange—and quite romantically awkward—beginning, this film showcases the Monotype School in London where students can learn the skills required to operate a Monotype keyboard for casting or photo typesetting. We see typing and keyboarding practice using light-up keyboard boards, very close-up shots of a student’s eyes, and students listening to tapes of people speaking to test their speed of typing. Year; 1968

Mar 8, 2026 · 38m

Has your Monotype ever produced low-quality type and you can’t figure out why? This film was created to show you how to properly maintain your Monotype Casting Machine to cast perfect type, every time. The film features an easy-to-understand series of diagrams showing how the Monotype casts type from molten metal as well as the correct way to clean dross out of your type metal. It is as exciting as it sounds! Year: 1958

Mar 15, 2026 · 26m

Monotype made this film to showcase their newer, computer technologies that were finally coming to the market in the late 1960s. Based on the idea of modules which could be interchanged as needed for printers’ and typesetters’ specific needs, Monotype is desperate to show they are using modern circuit boards and tape-reading “computers” and are not behind the times. Even though they are doing their best to talk about computers and modern technology, this film still has a great deal about their mechanical keyboards, composition casters, and non-digital machinery. At the very end of the film, they literally walk over to their R&D department to show a preview of their Monophoto 600 Film Setter, which is their first truly-electronic typesetting machine. Ca. 1968

Mar 22, 2026 · 22m

The ‘Rotadon’ darkroom camera from Monotype’s subsidiary, Pictorial Machinery Limited, is a revolutionary, new camera made for photographing, enlarging and reducing, and creating photo positive and negatives for photographic reproduction and printing. It is so revolutionary that it allows the operator to STAY PUT and not have to move anywhere compared to old and outdated copy cameras (which is hilariously acted out by a chain-smoking, bumbling operator). The camera has a vacuum back for creating exposures on plates, films, and papers with a mirror setup and easy adjustment for enlarging and reducing images and illustrations to any size needed for film output. Lots of obscure buttons, switches, and gauges are on display along with diagrams and darkroom shots to show how the system works. Year: 1955

Mar 29, 2026 · 23m

This film showcases Monotype’s answer to the upcoming phototypesetting revolution. They take great pains to show how little has changed from the old, hot-metal Monotype machines by replacing the hot-metal pot with a light source and the brass matrices with individual, photo negative matrices for exposure on paper or film. This cautious approach was in order to assuage the fears of printers who did not want to change. Throughout this film, you see what is new (including a session in the red-light darkroom) along with everything that has stayed the same (same keyboard and punched paper tape). Watch a woman “stripping” in new lines of text using techniques that would have seemed futuristic and fanciful in the late 1950s. Ca. 1958

Apr 5, 2026 · 38m

Learn all about the ‘Monophoto’ Filmsetter from Monotype. This machine attempts to bridge the gap in typesetting from the hot metal machines to the “new and exciting” world of photo typesetting. Using light-sensitive paper, a photographic lens, and photo type matrices, the Monotype casts type that can be used for offset printing instead of the old, hot-metal process. See diagrams of the machine, dark room processing, and in-depth explanation of paste-up techniques. (note: audio is missing for the first 35 seconds) Year: 1963

Apr 12, 2026 · 59m

This silent film starts with a brief overview of the Monotype Works buildings as well as the company homes for workers. See hundreds of Monotypes being built in the factory from raw materials to the casting machine and keyboards. At 33:25, His Majesty the King, Duke of York (whom “The King’s Speech” was based on) visits the Monotype factory. He inspects the workers and factory and then learns how to type on a Monotype keyboard. Year: 1925