At one of the sessions of the third annual meeting of the United Typothetae of America, on October 9, 1889, Andrew McNally, the president of the employers’ association, harangued his audience with an account of the problems facing the members of the group. The probability of national acceptance of the eight-hour day was an important [...]

The renowned Theodore L. De Vinne was asked to state his views on the changing technology of the printing industry during the 19th century. In a broadly reasoned statement De Vinne expressed on this day in 1889 his attitude toward what critics were then calling the destructive forces which endangered the future of the industry. [...]

“Typography may be defined as the craft of rightly disposing printing material in accordance with specific purpose; of so arranging the letters, distributing the space and controlling the type as to aid to the maximum the reader’s comprehension of the text. Typography is the efficient means to an essentially utilitarian and only accidental aesthetic end, [...]

“Eureka!” exclained a former compositor named Sam Clemens, at 12:20 p.m. on this day in 1889. The esteemed author and humorist, Mark Twain, then went on to say, “At this moment I have seen a line of movable type, spaced and justified by machinery! This is the first time in the history of the world [...]