Post #2597586
2026-03-26 11:33 UTC
@QuentinJuhel@post.lurk.org @dobody@mastodon.design Hello! The situation changed a lot throughout the centuries. In the beginning (renais.), the printers were also the type founders. Later special companies for foundry type formed that offered type to printers independent from presses/machines. Either fully developing their own designs or just casting designs after trading matrices. Then even later typesetting machine manufacturers (Linotype, Monotype, Intertype etc) joined the scene and sold type as addons to their machines
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@kupfers@mastodon.social 2026-03-26 11:37
@QuentinJuhel@post.lurk.org @dobody@mastodon.design That culminated in phototype times where the (proprietary) fonts were used as incentives to buy a certain typesetting machine or model. That’s also where design copying was rampant. When type was physical, trade was mostly local. It didn’t make sense to ship cast foundry type across the globe. You’d rather trade matrices (or a minimum character-set) and then cast the respective type to be sold locally. Also type-height and alignment was different in different places.