monotype

/mon"euh tuyp'/, n.

1. the only print made from a metal or glass plate on which a picture is painted in oil color, printing ink, or the like.

2. the method of producing such a print.

3. Biol. the only type of its group, as a single species constituting a genus.

[1880-85; MONO- + -TYPE]

* * *

or monoprint

In art printmaking, a technique prized because of its unique textural qualities.

Monotypes are made by drawing with printer's ink or oil paint onto glass or a plate of metal or stone. The drawing is then pressed by hand onto a sheet of absorbent paper or printed on an etching press. The pigment remaining on the plate is usually insufficient to make another print unless the original design is reinforced. Subsequent prints invariably differ from the first, because variations in repainting and printing are inevitable. In the 19th century, William Blake and Edgar Degas experimented with the technique.

* * *

▪ typesetting machine

      (trademark), in commercial printing, typesetting machine patented by Tolbert Lanston in 1885 that produces type in individual characters, unlike Linotype, which sets type an entire line at a time. A Monotype machine consists of a 120-key keyboard, a caster, and a replaceable matrix case divided into quadrants, each holding one complete type font. Using shift keys, the operator can select characters from any quadrant and can mix typefaces among the four fonts without changing cases. The operator types out characters and spacing to produce a paper ribbon perforated to indicate characters and spacing. The ribbon is placed on the caster, which “reads” the perforations and automatically casts the individual characters in succession.

      Like the Linotype, Monotype has been almost completely superseded by photocomposition (q.v.). Monotype was more versatile than Linotype and better suited to complicated copy, such as mathematical equations and chemical formulas. Special symbols were easily incorporated into the cases that held type fonts. Because it was slower and more expensive to operate than Linotype, it was rarely used for setting solid text copy.

* * *