Information about Moveable Type

Movable Type
Author:	Ben Trott
Developer:	Six Apart
Initial release:	2001 October 8
Latest release:	4.01 / 2007 September 21
Platform:	Perl
Available language(s):	Dutch English French German Japanese Spanish
Status:	Active
Genre:	Blog publishing system
License:	proprietary (GPL version promised)[1]
Website:	movabletype.com

Movable Type is a weblog publishing system developed by California-based Six Apart. It was publicly announced on 3 September 2001,^[2] and version 1.0 was publicly released on 8 October 2001.^[3]

Features

• The TrackBack feature was introduced in version 2.2, and has since been adopted by a number of other blog systems.
• Unlimited weblogs
• Static and Dynamic publishing
• Pages - introduced in version 4, users can create standalone pages.
• Asset and File Manager
• Customized User roles - support for LDAP user and group management and automatic blog provisioning
• Customizable templates with any extension
• Tags
• Categories, sub-categories and multiple categories for articles

History

Movable Type is free for personal use and offers unlimited users and blogs.^[4] Users can purchase support or buy commercial, education, or nonprofit licenses which come with support contracts and author limits and unlimited blogs.^[5] The current version is 4.0.^[6]

Movable Type is written in Perl, and supports storage of the weblog's content and associated data within MySQL, Berkeley DB, PostgreSQL, and SQLite; dynamic page generation is handled by Smarty. Movable Type Enterprise also supports the Oracle database and Microsoft SQL Server. The application supports static page generation (in which files for each page are updated whenever the content of the site is changed), dynamic page generation (in which pages are composited from the underlying data as the browser requests them), or a combination of the two technologies.

With the release of version 3.0, there were marked changes in Movable Type's licensing,^[7] most notably placing greater restrictions on its use without paying a licensing fee.^[8] This sparked criticism from some users of the software. With the release of Movable Type 3.2, the ability to create an unlimited number of weblogs at all licensing levels was restored. In Movable Type 3.3, it is completely free for personal users.

Six Apart released Movable Type 4 beta on June 5 2007 and re-launched movabletype.org as a community site for purposes of developing an open-source version (MTOS) to be released under GPL in Q3 2007.^[9][10]

Movable Type Enterprise version has become a standard corporate and enterprise blogging software because of advanced features such as LDAP management, enterprise database integration such as Oracle, MySQL, user roles, blog cloning and automated blog provisioning. It is also available as part of Intel's SuiteTwo professional software offering of Web 2.0 tools.

Six Apart also maintains three other weblog publishing systems, TypePad, LiveJournal and Vox. While Movable Type is a system which needs to be installed on a user's own web server, TypePad is a hosted weblog service. LiveJournal is an entirely separate blogging system, acquired after Six Apart's buyout of Danga Interactive in January 2005.

Movable Type was originally named Serge after musician Serge Gainsbourg.

References

External links

• Movable Type product website
• Movable Type community website

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Movable type is the system of printing and typography using movable pieces of metal type, made by casting from matrices struck by letterpunches.

Around 1040, the first known movable type system was created in China by Bi Sheng out of porcelain. Metal movable type was first invented in Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty (around 1230). Neither movable type system was widely used, one reason being the enormous Chinese character set.

Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg introduced what is regarded as an independent invention of movable type in Europe (see printing press), along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. Gutenberg was the first to create his type pieces from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony—the same components still used today.^[11]

Compared to woodblock printing, movable type pagesetting was quicker and more durable. The metal type pieces were more durable and the lettering was more uniform, leading to typography and fonts. The high quality and relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible (1455) established the superiority of movable type, and printing presses rapidly spread across Europe, leading up to the Renaissance, and later all around the world. Today, practically all movable type printing ultimately derives from Gutenberg's movable type printing, which is often regarded as the most important invention of the second millennium.^[12]

Precursors

Origin of the letterpunch

The technique of imprinting multiple copies of symbols or glyphs with a master type punch made of hard metal first developed in coining around 3000 BC in ancient Sumer. Bars or ingots of precious metal were imprinted with a distinctive stamped design; the act of stamping the ingots certified them as currency by the power of the authority symbolized by the type image. These metal punch types can be seen as precursors of the letter punches adapted in later millennia to printing with movable metal type.

By 650 BC the ancient Greeks were using larger diameter punches to imprint small page images onto coins and tokens. Cylinder seals were a related form of early typography capable of printing small page designs in relief (cameo) on wax or clay—a miniature forerunner of rotogravure printing used by wealthy individuals to seal and certify documents.

The artists who made the first coin punches were in effect the first typographers and type designers. Their designs, including glyphs and words, were stylized with a degree of skill that could not be mistaken for common handiwork—salient and very specific types designed to be reproduced ad infinitum. Unlike the first typefaces used to print books in the 13th century, coin types were neither combined or printed with ink on paper, but "published" in metal—a more durable medium—and survived in substantial numbers. As the portable face of ruling authority, coins were a compact form of standardized knowledge issued in large editions, an early mass medium that stabilized trade and civilization throughout the Mediterranean world of antiquity.

The Phaistos Disc

For further information, see Phaistos Disc.

The enigmatic Minoan Phaistos Disc (1800–1600 BC) has been considered by one scholar as an early example of a body of text being reproduced with reusable characters: it may have been produced by pressing pre-formed hieroglyphic "seals" into the soft clay. Some authors even view the disc as technically meeting all definitional criteria to represent an early, if not the earliest incidence of movable type printing,^[13] although this characterization has not been accepted by any other worker.

Woodblock printing

Main article: Woodblock printing

Prior to the development of metal movable type, printing was performed with blocks carved from wood.

Movable type

Non Printing Movable Type in the Roman Empire

Movable type was used by the Romans but never developed for printing. In the Roman waterworks, messages were raised in relief on the lead pipes that fed fountains, baths, and private homes. As a rule, these short texts recorded the name of the emperor or the municipal official who had paid for the pipes.

Molds for each letter in the Latin alphabet were made and individually placed into a carved slot in a stone slab to make the required sentence. Ensuring that the molds lay flush with the surface of the stone, they locked the type into place and laid the stone slab on a large flat tray. Then they poured molten lead across slab and tray, forming a large metal sheet. Once cooled, the sheet could be rolled into a cylinder and soldered at the seam. On the pipe's contour, the message appeared in raised letters.

Canadian classicist A. Trevor Hodge has noted, this overlooked Roman technology "tempts one into speculating how close the ancient world was to making the full-scale breakthrough into printing." However, since there was no paper in Roman Empire at that time, a key ingredient in invention of movable type printing was missing.

Invention of Ceramic movable type for Printing

The first known movable type system for printing was created in China around 1040 AD by Bi Sheng (990–1051).^[13] Bi Sheng's type was made of baked clay. As described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (1031–1095):

When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. In this he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. He then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone.

For each character there were several types, and for certain common characters there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were not in use he had them arranged with paper labels, one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in wooden cases.^[14]

If one were to print only two or three copies, this method would be neither simple nor easy. But for printing hundreds or thousands of copies, it was marvelously quick. As a rule he kept two forms going. While the impression was being made from the one form, the type was being put in place on the other. When the printing of the one form was finished, the other was then ready. In this way the two forms alternated and the printing was done with great rapidity.^[15]

In 1193, Zhou Bida, an officer of Southen Song Dynasty, made a set of clay moveble type method according to the method described by Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays, and printed his book Notes of The Jade Hall 《玉堂杂记》^[16].

As late as 1844 there were still books printed in China with clay moveable types^[17].

However, Bi Sheng's fragile clay types were not practical for large-scale printing.^[18]

Invention Wooden movable type in China

Wooden movable type was first developed around 1040 AD by Bi Sheng (990–1051), as described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (1031–1095), but was abandoned in favour of clay moveable types due to uneveness of the removeable wooden type after soaked in ink, also due to the presense of wood grains^[19]. In 1298, Wang Zhen, a governmental official of Jingde, Anhui province, China, re-invented a method of making moveable wooden types, he made more than 30,000 wooden removable types and printed 100 copies of Records of Jingde County (旌德县志), a book of more than 60,000 Chinese characters. Soon afterwards, he summarized his invention in his book A method of making moveable wooden types for printing books. Although the wooden type was more durable under the mechanical rigors of handling, repeated printing wore the character faces down, and the types could only be replaced by carving new pieces. This system was later enhanced by pressing wooden blocks into sand and casting metal types from the depression in copper, bronze, iron or tin.^[13] The set of wafer-like metal stamp types could be assembled to form pages, inked, and page impressions taken from rubbings on cloth or paper.^[13]

A particular difficulty posed the logistical problems of handling the several thousand logographs whose command is required for full literacy in Chinese language.

In spite of these shortcomings, wooden movable types were used continually in China, a case in point was the 2300 volume 《武英殿聚珍版丛书》 movable wooden type print ordered by Yongzheng Emperor in 1733.

Metal movable type in Korea

Main article: History of typography in East Asia

"Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Son Masters", the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, 1377. Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.

Transition from wood type to metal type occurred ca. 1230 AD during the Goryeo Dynasty of Korea and is credited to Chae Yun-ui. A set of ritual books, Sangjong Gogeum Yemun were printed with the movable metal type in 1234.^[20][21] Examples of this metal type are on display in the Asian Reading Room of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.^[22] The oldest extant movable metal print book is the Jikji, printed in Korea in 1377.^[23]

The techniques for bronze casting, used at the time for making coins (as well as bells and statues) were adapted to making metal type. The following description of the Korean font casting process was recorded by the Joseon dynasty scholar Song Hyon (15th c.):

At first, one cuts letters in beech wood. One fills a trough level with fine sandy [clay] of the reed-growing seashore. Wood-cut letters are pressed into the sand, then the impressions become negative and form letters [molds]. At this step, placing one trough together with another, one pours the molten bronze down into an opening. The fluid flows in, filling these negative molds, one by one becoming type. Lastly, one scrapes and files off the irregularities, and piles them up to be arranged.^[20]

A potential solution to the linguistic and cultural bottleneck that held back movable type in Korea for two hundred years appeared in the early 15th century—a generation before Gutenberg would begin working on his own movable type invention in Europe—when King Sejong devised a simplified alphabet of 24 characters (Hangul) for use by the common people, which could have made the typecasting and compositing process more feasible. But Sejong's brilliant creation did not receive the attention it deserved. Adoption of the new alphabet was stifled by the inertia of Korea's cultural elite, who were "…appalled at the idea of losing Chinese, the badge of their elitism."^[13]

(Add) Early in January 2007 recently discovered oldest movable types in Korea were on display. They have been dated to the mid-15th century. Hangul, the script of Korea, was invented by King Sejong of the Joson Dynasty who reigned between 1418 and 1450.

Proliferation of movable type was also obstructed by a "Confucian prohibition on the commercialization of printing" restricted the distribution of books produced using the new method to the government.^[13] The technique was restricted to use by the royal foundry for official state publications only, where the focus was on reprinting Chinese classics lost in 1126 when Korea's libraries and palaces had perished in a conflict between dynasties.^[23]

Metal Movable type elsewhere in Asia

During the Mongol Empire (1206–1405), printing using movable type spread from China to Central Asia. The Uyghurs of Central Asia used movable type, their script type adopted from the Mongol language, some with Chinese words printed between the pages, a strong evidence that the books were printed in China^[25].

In the 1298 book Zao Huozi Yinshufa (造活字印书法) of Wang Zhen, there is mention of Tin movable type.^[26]

In Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD) China, metal movable type was also invented separately from Korea, first used by Hua Sui in 1490 AD with bronze type.^[27]

In 1574 the massive 1000 volume encyclopedia Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era《太平御览》 were printed with bronze moveable type.

In 1725，Qing dyasty government made 250,000 bronze moveable types and printed 64 sets of the encyclopedic Gujin Tushu Jicheng Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times《古今图书集成》，each consists of 5040 volumes, a total of 322,560 volumes.

Metal movable type in Europe

Main article: History of western typography

Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz is acknowledged as the first to invent a metal movable type printing system in Europe. Gutenberg was a goldsmith familiar with techniques of cutting punches for making coins from moulds. Between 1436 and 1450 he developed hardware and techniques for casting letters from matrices using a device called the hand mould.^[28] Gutenberg's key invention and contribution to movable type printing in Europe, the hand mould was the first practical means of making cheap copies of letterpunches in the vast quantities needed to print complete books, making the movable type printing process a viable enterprise.

Gutenberg and his associates developed oil-based inks ideally suited to printing with a press on paper, and the first Latin typefaces. His method of casting type may have been different from the hand mould used in subsequent decades. Detailed analysis of the type used in his 42-line Bible has revealed irregularities in some of the characters that cannot be attributed to ink spread or type wear under the pressure of the press. Scholars conjecture that the type pieces may have been cast from a series of matrices made with a series of individual stroke punches, producing many different versions of the same glyph.^[29] It has also been suggested that the method used by Gutenberg involved using a single punch to make a mould, but the mould was such that the process of taking the type out disturbed the casting, creating variants and anomalies, and that the punch-matrix system came into use possibly around the 1470s.^[30] This raises the possibility that the development of movable type in the West may have been progressive rather than a single innovation.^[31]

Gutenberg's movable type printing system spread rapidly across Europe, from the single Mainz press in 1457 to 110 presses by 1480, of which 50 were in Italy. Venice quickly became the center of typographic and printing activity. Significant were the contributions of Nicolas Jenson, Francesco Griffo, Aldus Manutius, and other printers of late 15th-century Europe.

Despite some conjectures (see^[20]) there is no evidence that movable type from the East ever reached Europe There have been suggested routes: During the Mongolian invasion of Europe, particular the Mogolian occupation of Hungary in 1285 thus reached the border of Germany , the Mongols might brought movable printing technique to Europe. In 1294 John of Monte Corvino was sent by the Pope to China, he stayed in China until 1328. Since there were abundant contact between China and the West the appearance of movable type in Germany over a century afterwards afterwards might conceivably not be an independent event.

Type-founding

Type-founding as practiced in Europe and the west consists of three stages.

Punchcutting: If the glyph design includes enclosed spaces (counters), a counterpunch is made. The counter shapes are transferred in relief (cameo) onto the end of a rectangular bar of mild steel using a specialized engraving tool called a graver. The finished counterpunch is hardened by heating and quenching (tempering), or exposure to a cyanide solution (case hardening).

The counterpunch is then struck against the end of a similar rectangular steel bar—the letterpunch—to impress the counter shapes as recessed spaces (intaglio). The outer profile of the glyph is completed by scraping away with a graver the material outside the counter spaces, leaving only the stroke or lines of the glyph. Progress toward the finished design is checked by successive smoke proofs; temporal prints made from a thin coating of carbon deposited on the punch surface by a candle flame. The finished letterpunch is finally hardened to withstand the rigors of reproduction by striking.

One counterpunch and one letterpunch are produced for every letter or glyph making up a complete font.

Matrix: The letterpunch is used to strike a blank die of soft metal to make a negative letter mould, called a matrix.

Casting: The matrix is inserted into the bottom of a device called a hand mould. The mould is clamped shut and molten type metal alloy consisting mostly of lead and tin, with a small amount of antimony for hardening, is poured into a cavity from the top. When the type metal has sufficiently cooled the mould is unlocked and a rectangular block approximately 4 centimeters long, called a sort, extracted. Excess casting on the end of the sort, called the tang, is later removed to make the sort the precise height required for printing, known as "type height", approximately 0.918 inches.

Typesetting

A case of cast metal type pieces and typeset matter in a composing stick

Modern, factory-produced moveable type was available in the late 19th century. It was held in the printing shop in a job case, a drawer about 2 inches high, a yard wide, and about two feet deep, with many small compartments for the various letters and ligatures. The most popular and accepted of the job case designs was the California Job Case, which took its name from the Pacific coast location of the foundaries that made the case popular.^[32]

Regardless of who actually invented the case, in order to make his typesetting more efficient, the inventor arranged the compartments according to the letters' frequency of use. The more frequent letters (t, n, e, i, o, r) are arranged in a rough circle directly in front of the typesetter, while the less-frequently used letters and characters are further away. The arrangement of the letters in the California Job Case became so popular and commonly adopted that a skilled typesetter could "read" the text set by another typesetter, just by watching the positions of the compartments where the typesetter reached for his letters.

ffi

fl

5m

4m

'

k

e

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

$

£

K-

Æ

Œ

æ

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j

b

c

d

i

s

f

g

ff

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

?

fi

0

H

I

K

L

M

N

O

!

l

m

n

h

o

y

p

w

,

en qd

em qd

z

P

Q

R

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T

V

W

x

v

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3-em spaces

a

r

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quads

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The California Job Case

The California Job Case has three sections, with the rightmost sections containing capital letters in alphabetic order except for the "J" and "U", moved to the lowest line to help avoid confusing them with "I" and "V" respectively. The lower case letters and punctuation marks are in the left and center sections, with the numbers 1 to 8 at the top of the center section, while the ligatures (combined letters, such as "ff", "fi", "ffi", "fl", "ffl", and "ae") are in various locations about the exterior.

In addition to placing the most commonly used letters in setting text in a given language in the easiest positions for the typeseter to get to, the characters' boxes varied in size depending upon the frequency of usage of the character. Thus for English the "e" box is the largest while the "j", "q", "x", and "z" boxes are the smallest.

Prior to the adoption of the California Job Case, the capital letters were stored in a separate drawer or case that was located above the case that held the other letters; this is why capital letters are called "upper case" characters while the non-capitals are "lower case".

Other large compartments in the California Job Case held spacers, which are blocks of blank type used to separate words and fill out a line of type, such as em and en quads (quadrats, or spaces. A quadrat is a block of type whose face is lower than the printing letters so that it does not itself print.). An em space was the width of a capital letter "M" -- as wide as it was high -- while an en space referred to a space half the width of its height (usually the dimensions for a capital "N").

Individual letters are assembled into words and lines of text with the aid of a composing stick, and the whole assembly is tightly bound together to make up a page image called a forme, where all letter faces are exactly the same height to form a flat surface of type. The forme is mounted on a printing press, a thin coating of viscous ink is applied and impressions made on paper under great pressure in the press. "Sorts" is the term given to special characters not freely available in the typical type case, such as the "@" mark, etc.

See also

• History of western typography
• Spread of printing
• Type foundry
• Typesetting
• Odhecaton — the first sheet music printed with movable type

References

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Literature

• Nesbitt, Alexander The History and Technique of Lettering (c) 1957, Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0486402819 , Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 57-13116. The Dover edition is an abridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design.