One of the high points of the 2004 Ann Arbor Book Festival was Mr. Burkhart's demonstration of his linotype machine. I was absolutely fascinated by this device, which is what was used to generate type during the 1900s; eventually overtaken by more modern machines that generated camera ready type, (such as the Compugraphic, I believe) and, finally the computer typesetting today, his demonstration was a wonderful window into a lost age—and, I understand, the last working linotype in MI.
Ben Burkhart typing at the linotype keyboard to create a hot-lead slug of type.
As much as I enjoyed the many other activities during the festival (they had a panel of SF authors, demos on marbleing and bookbinding, not to mention many beautiful examples of the paper arts) touring the Burkhart Typesetting Co. was the high point of my experiences.
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