Cold type, photo-processes, and 20th-century reproduction methods, ca. 1924-1983

Catalogs, pamphlets, stereotypes, plates, brochures, manuals, and examples of 20th-century print processes with particular focus on “cold type” and related photo processes.

In Printing as a Hobby Lieberman defines cold type as “any process of printing type-like letters without actually using hot (i.e. metal) type.” Originally organized by Lieberman as simply “cold type,” the series expanded to include information on offset lithography, gravure and rotogravure, and screen process printing. Significant oversize items include the first cold-type issue of the New York Times (3 July 1979) and a plate from the New York Herald Tribune (28 Nov. 1962). Miscellaneous processes and examples forms one of the largest categories and includes a wide range of materials of commercial and private printing.

This series is largely a collection of samples from various printing companies, which includes both promotional and actual printed material. The large amount of miscellaneous material can be attributed to Lieberman’s wide collecting interests in the history of printing and printing processes; therefore, it is unclear whether or not a magazine for example may have been collected for its content or as an example of the process that produced it. Included in this collection are also several stereotype plates and transfer sheets.