By V. Hugh Lewis, Jefferson Jimplecute
The Jimplecute was contacted this week by a fellow printer who was requesting information on the Linotype printing press which sits behind the Jefferson Historical Museum. The machine was originally used to produce the Jimplecute.
According to the gentleman who contacted us, he was sent two photos of the machine. He went on to tell us it is a, “very rare surviving example of a Model 9 Linotype.” Further, he told us there is one other example “extant, and that machines is held by the Smithsonian Institution.
“This particular model of the Linotype could set type simultaneously from all four magazines of matrices, meaning a compositor could (and did) have as many as 8 typefaces in the same line of type,” he wrote. “They were designed for catalog, dictionary, and scientific typesetting, and as such finding one in use at a country newspaper shop kind of rewrites history. This machine, by the way, was built some time in the spring of 1923, and probably in the month of April.”
He asked if we had any copies of photos, or other documents surrounding the machine. So, we’re reaching out to you, our readers. If you have any old photographs or copies of things produced on it, we’d like to get a copy. You can contact us at 903-665-2462, or email us at JeffersonJimplecute@gmail.com.
We’ve also been in touch with part of the museum board, and, are discussing starting a program to work on restoration of the press and/or seeing if the Smithsonian is interested in helping us with it’s history.