Many thanks to the Internet Archive for providing this vintage footage.
This film is available on Metal Type DVD - Volume One.
THIS 13-minute film is part of the "Americans at Work" series made in 1961 by the American Foundation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations.
It starts with a quick history lesson about the importance of literature through the ages and then looks at restoring a historical book.
It shows marbelising the edges of the pages, putting a new cover on and lettering the spine with gold leaf.
We then look at the modern bookbinding process, including folding, collating the sections, sewing, a mashing machine and trimming machine.
Then on to making the covers for the book, including the stripping machine, the casing-in machine and the press the books are put in until they are dry.
There is a quick look at making pamphlets, with wire stitching, a paper ruling machine using discs and pens, and making a spiral-bound stenographer's pad.
A small selection of Letterpress Ebay listings appear below. A much bigger selection appears here. Linotype-related Ebay listings are here.
