Movable type printing
Moveable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual letters or punctuation).
The first known movable type system for printing was made of ceramic materials and created in China around AD 1040 by Bi Sheng. Around 1450 Johannes Gutenberg made a mechanical metal movable-type printing press in Europe, along with innovations in casting the type.
Gutenberg's type pieces were made from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony. Metal type pieces were more durable and the lettering more uniform than wood block printing, leading to typography and fonts.
Frame of print blocks
This frame of letterpress wooden print blocks contains blocks that would have originally been used in the printing industry sometime between the late 1800s and the mid-1900s. The blocks comprise different fonts and sizes and would have been manufactured at different dates.
Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing using a printing press. A worker composes and locks movable type into a bed or chase of a press, inks it and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type which creates an impression on the paper.
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