Abstract

Abstract:

Nineteenth-century pianotype composing machines were designed to mechanize the labour-intensive process of setting type by hand. The term describes a range of inventions that involved a user depressing keys to select type for composing. However, despite rapid advances in the speed and capacity of the printing press, mechanization failed to progress until the invention of the Linotype by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1886. This essay argues that the pianotype composing machine is not just a footnote in the history of the inevitable rise of the Linotype machine but an artefact that interrogates preconceived ideas of the compositor’s role. It asks why the mechanization of compositing in the 1840s and 1850s involved keyboards inspired by the workings of the pianoforte. The essay discusses pianotype composing machines in terms of their historical context and the controversy and interest they engendered. It examines early attempts at mechanization in the 1840s, using the case history of the Young and Delcambre machine to demonstrate the obstacles to commercial development. It suggests that these inventions embodied a key step on the path to mass-market printing. They raised issues about the symbolic power of the printing press, the role of master craftsmen, and the changing nature of gendered work.

pdf

Share