TYPOGRAPHIC HANDIBOOK
Monsen Chicago Typographers
[Gordon L. Monsen] Monsen Chicago Typographers: TYPOGRAPHIC HANDIBOOK. Chicago: Thormod Monsen & Son, 1943. Original edition. Slim octavo. Saddle stitched thick letterpressed wrappers. 62 pp. Type line samples. Wrappers lightly worn. Typeset hand tipped-in correction to page 1: "22 E. Illinois St., Chicago 11, Illinois Superior 1223" as issued. A nearly fine copy.
6.75 x 10. 5 handbook of typefaces available through Monsen Chicago. The Catalog typography — especially the combinations of Grotesque and Script faces — is highly reminiscent of the Modern style taught through Kepes and Moholy-Nagy at the New Bauhaus/School of Design. This handibook was published one year before the School of Design was renamed Institute of Design.
Monsen Typographers were active in Chicago's Society of Typographic Arts and were credited with much collateral work for the Society.
Gordon L. Monsen (1915 - 1993) was president of the Chicago based firm of Monsen Typographers from 1950 to 1965 and co-author of Photomechanics and Printing. Monsen Typographers (originally Thormod Monsen & Son) was founded in 1887 by Monsen's grandfather as a small job printer specializing in the translation of foreign languages. In 1947 it expanded its operations to the west coast and opened a printing plant serving 11 states. The innovative Monsen firm was responsible for developing the Trans-Adhesive Map Type Impressions and the Kromotype color printing process. In 1935, Gordon Monsen invented and developed the Drop-Out Halftone process for lithography that was used by American Colortype, Viritone, Cut Teich, and A.B. Dick. Working with Herbert Helding in 1945, Monsen developed and patented the Color Computator for accurate visual predetermination of reproducible color effects. Monsen was active in the Society of Typographic Arts (STA) and served as treasurer of the International Design Conference in Aspen (IDCA). In 1953, he started the Gordon Monsen, Inc. Printing Company and in 1973 he established EdiTec, Inc. with his son, Gordon, Jr.
This article first appeared in the August 1961 issue of The Inland Printer/American Lithographer, titled Monsen’s Type Book Sets High Standard.
The profile this month changes from typographer to typographic tool—in this instance the new jumbo type specimen book issued by Monsen Typographers, Inc. of Chicago.
When Thormod Monsen, a Norwegian immigrant, established his printing firm in Chicago in 1887, the shop boasted a type library of 110 different types, a very adequate supply for the period. The firm’s first type specimen book was tablet size and contained 12 pages, the title page bearing the inscription that “Thormod Monsen Gives Special Attention to Composition and Transfer Impressions for the Lithographic Trade,” a prophetic introduction to what has become a major concern of most typographic plants.
Now, 25 specimen books later, Monsen has set a standard for the industry. Its new two-volume book contains more than 1,500 pages, showing over 1,000 types in every size which the shop carries. Included are characters used for Hebrew, Russian, and Greek, along with special accents for 42 languages other than English which utilize the Roman alphabet.
Monsen’s book is an indication of the evolution of the printer’s specimen book as a working tool for busy production people. It is no longer sufficient simply to list types. Modern specimen books are becoming production manuals and style books, which attempt to give every possible aid to the printer’s customers. With the cost of producing typography constantly spiraling upward, the printer must be conscious of the continuing need to lower production costs.
Standardized markup is a very necessary part of this concept. So what could be simpler than educating and informing the customer at the same time you show him the catalogs of your services? Thus, Monsen’s book gives hints on copyfitting and markup to meet its own requirements. Also included is a typographic glossary: facts about type sizes, styles, weights, widths, and a variety of other items about which lack of knowledge may contribute to wasted time and effort, and unnecessarily increased costs.
Contributing to the sheer bulk of this type catalog is the completeness of each type showing. Ideally, every type should be shown in full alphabet for every size listed, along with body copy for the keyboard sizes with at least three variations of leading.
This degree of thoroughness alone is probably the most controversial consideration in the design of the specimen book. Naturally enough, the cost of producing such a book is a criticism voiced most frequently by those printers who prefer a different procedure.
In limiting the distribution, Monsen has taken another step which is fast becoming an economic necessity in the production of specimen books. The firm will, of course, send the book to its customers, but inevitably there will be many requests for copies from other people who want to own such a splendid catalog. The book will be available to noncustomers and to “interested collectors” for the sum of $200. Since a secondary activity of any specimen book is to attract new customers, the Monsen book will perform this function, too. The book’s price will be refunded when a customer orders $3,000 worth of typesetting in a year’s period.
I can offer but one criticism of this well-conceived book: The classification of type styles leaves something to be desired. In this respect, no two printers’ specimens are alike. There is a need for a clear and understandable nomenclature of type styles, on a national level, and until this is accomplished, we will continue to have type catalogs which are inconsistent in organization. In spite of this, the Monsen book is a wonderful achievement.