The Font that Never Was: Linotype and the “Phonetic Chinese Alphabet” of 1921
In: Philological EncountersAbstract
Since the invention and globalization of hot metal printing in the United States and Europe, engineers and entrepreneurs dreamt of a day when linotype and monotype technologies would absorb Chinese script into its growing repertoire of non-Latin writing systems, just as they had Arabic, Armenian, Burmese, Devanagari, Hebrew, Korean, and over one hundred other scripts. In the early 1920s, the much-celebrated release of a new font—the “Chinese Phonetic Alphabet” by Mergenthaler Linotype, and later by the Monotype corporation—led many to believe that the day had finally come. This article charts out the quixotic history of Linotype and Monotype’s efforts to enter the Chinese market, examining the linguistic challenges that had long prevented China’s absorption into a Western-dominated “hot metal empire,” the design process by which artists in Brooklyn and London crafted these new fonts, and ultimately the cultural misunderstandings that doomed the projects to failure.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
“A Chinese Composing-Room in Chicago.” The Linotype Bulletin 13 (1916–1917): 135–136.
-
“A Chinese Operated Linotype.” The Linotype Bulletin 8 (1912): 160.
-
“A Fine Printing Office in the Far East.” The Linotype Record 5, no. 4 (October 1926): 15.
-
“A Japanese Composing Room.” Linotype Notes 7, no. 83 (August 1904): 13, 15.
-
“By Aeroplane to Indo-China: Unique Animal Hospital in Kwangsi Capital.” The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette (March 13, 1935): 417.
-
“Chinese Linotype Developed: New York Oct. 19.” South China Morning Post & the Hongkong Telegraph (October 20, 1962): 13.
-
“Chinese Linotype: Invention Will Revolutionize Chinese Printing Machine with 5,000.” South China Morning Post (June 10, 1936): 11.
-
“Chinese Phonetic on a Typewriter” Advertisement for Hammond Multiplex. Popular Science 97, no. 2 (August 1920): 116.
-
“Chu Yin Tzu-mu Keyboard—Keyboard no. 1400.” (February 10, 1921) Hagley Museum and Library. Accession 1825. Remington Rand Corporation. Records of the Advertising and Sales Promotion Department. Series I Typewriter Div. Subseries B Remington Typewriter Company. Box 3, Volume 3.
-
“Reducing Chinese Letters from 40,000 Symbols to 40.” New York Times (March 4, 1923): X3.
-
“Specimens Received.” The Linotype Bulletin 9 (1913): 139.
-
“Supplement to Linotype Notes.” Linotype Notes 2, no. 26 (May, 1899).
-
“The Linotype School in China.” The Linotype Record 5, no. 4 (October 1926): 10.
-
“The Romance of the Printing Type.” The Linotype Record 2, no. 3 (July 1923): 3–4.
-
“Visit of the Chinese Minister to the Linotype Workers at Broadheath.” Linotype Notes 2, no. 26 (October, 1899): 1, 6.
-
Appointment Letter: Herbert Ellis. December 1, 1922. Museum of Science and Industry (UK) A1997.20/5/2/2/3/177.
-
Chinese Phonetic Alphabet font. Mergenthaler Linotype Letterform Archives. Museum of Printing, Haverhill, MA.
-
De Francis, John. Nationalism and Language Reform in China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950.
-
Hoare, R. “China’s National Phonetic Syllabary—How it has been adapted to the Linotype by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.” April 1921. Mergenthaler Linotype Collection. Museum of Printing, Haverhill, MA, February 4, 1921.
-
Hoare, R. “Keyboard Diagram for Chinese Phonetic.” Mergenthaler Linotype Collection. Museum of Printing, Haverhill, MA, February 4, 1921.
-
Hoare, R. “Keyboard Diagram for Chinese Phonetic Amended.” Mergenthaler Linotype Collection. Museum of Printing, Haverhill, MA, March 3, 1921.
-
Jones, Robert McKean. “Arabic—Remington No. 10.” Hagley Museum and Library. Accession 1825. Remington Rand Corporation. Records of the Advertising and Sales Promotion Department. Series I Typewriter Div. Subseries B Remington Typewriter Company. Box 3, Volume 3.
-
Linotype Notes 2, no. 24 (August 1899): 1–7.
-
Linotype Notes 2, no. 26 (October 1899): 1, 6.
-
Memorandum of Agreement. “Copy of Lease—Rangoon.” January 27, 1914. Museum of Science and Industry (UK) YA2014.3001/146.
-
Memorandum of Agreement. “Jardine Matheson and Co. Ltd Agents in Hong Kong and China.” January 6, 1911. Museum of Science and Industry (UK) YA2014.3001/86.
-
Memorandum of Agreement. July 4, 1905. Museum of Science and Industry (UK) A1997.20/5/2/2/3/111.
-
Mergenthaler Linotype Company. China’s Phonetic Script and the Linotype. Brooklyn: Mergenthaler Linotype Co., April 1922. Smithsonian National Museum of American History Archives Center. Collection no. 666, Box LIZ0589 (“History—Non-Roman Faces”), Folder “Chinese,” Subfolder “Chinese Typewriter.”
-
Mullaney, Thomas S. The Chinese Typewriter: A History. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2017.
-
Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy. New York: Routledge, 2013 [1982].
-
Orcutt, Reginald. Merchant of Alphabets. New York: Doubleday, 1945.
-
Rental Agreement. April 18, 1916. Museum of Science and Industry (UK) A1997.20/ 5/2/2/3/173.
-
Williams, Samuel Wells. “Draft of General Article on the Chinese Language.” ND. Samuel Wells Williams family papers. Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives. MS 547 Location LSF. Series II Box 13, 3.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1188 | 90 | 10 |
| Full Text Views | 106 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 97 | 10 | 0 |
The Font that Never Was: Linotype and the “Phonetic Chinese Alphabet” of 1921
In: Philological EncountersAbstract
Since the invention and globalization of hot metal printing in the United States and Europe, engineers and entrepreneurs dreamt of a day when linotype and monotype technologies would absorb Chinese script into its growing repertoire of non-Latin writing systems, just as they had Arabic, Armenian, Burmese, Devanagari, Hebrew, Korean, and over one hundred other scripts. In the early 1920s, the much-celebrated release of a new font—the “Chinese Phonetic Alphabet” by Mergenthaler Linotype, and later by the Monotype corporation—led many to believe that the day had finally come. This article charts out the quixotic history of Linotype and Monotype’s efforts to enter the Chinese market, examining the linguistic challenges that had long prevented China’s absorption into a Western-dominated “hot metal empire,” the design process by which artists in Brooklyn and London crafted these new fonts, and ultimately the cultural misunderstandings that doomed the projects to failure.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1188 | 90 | 10 |
| Full Text Views | 106 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 97 | 10 | 0 |