Book DescriptionIn the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, type for newspapers and books was set one letter at a time, and the manufacturers of the metal type used in the printing trade were called typefounders This prominent yet rarely documentedindustry was essential to the development of modern American publishing and was particularly обэуй prevalent in St Louis In Recasting a Craft: St Louis Typefounders Respond to Industrialization, Robert A Mullen recognizes the citys significant contributions to typefounding and details how the craft fundamentally changed through mechanization, growth, and the creation of a large conglomerate Like many trades of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that were eventually lost to industrialization, the typefoundries of St Louis grew from small shops to factories with organized labor Mullen describes three distinct periods of the industry that emerged in St Louiss typefounding trade: the early struggles in establishing the industry there, the period of intense competition and creative enterprise, and the proliferation of new companies that appealed to those customers who felt alienated by the monopolizing older companies Mullen discusses at length the technological, social, and demographic foundations of the immense growth of the trade in the nineteenth century, identifying the changes in typographical design and the demand for it in the new era of advertising He also profiles the workers, working conditions, and labor issuessuch as the failed industry-wide strike of 1903that emerged as the craft of typefounding entered the industrial age More than two hundred type designs that originated with the St Louis firms are listed with examples of each face in an appendix The volume also contains a list of the known catalog of the St Louis typefoundries known to exist in the public and academic libraries of the United States.  Eyesigh2005 г ISBN 0809326361.